UAE Calls for Persian Gulf States to Talk Directly With Iran Toward a Lasting Peace

Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to the UAE president, said in an interview with Foreign Affairs, published in Persian by Donya-e-Eqtesad on Friday, 3 Mehr 1405 (September 25, 2026), that any agreement to end the Iran war must lead to a lasting peace, not a temporary pause that ends in renewed fighting "within three, four or five months." He called for substantive talks between Iran and the Persian Gulf states, individually or as a group, alongside the negotiations between Tehran and Washington.

Gargash said such talks should go beyond immediate, transactional issues and address confidence-building and non-aggression. He said Abu Dhabi had opposed the war from the start and that the UAE had expected an Iranian attack, but not one of this breadth and persistence.

The position comes a day after the UAE suspended all flights by Iranian airlines; the Dubai route is one of Iran's main channels for trade and foreign currency.