The Emiratis have managed to provide themselves with a mercenary army in the past decade, which is entirely dependent on them, by spending a significant amount of money. They occupy important parts of the southern part of Yemen, including Aden, but the Saudi side has not created such a capability. Only mercenary militias from the Islah party have fought alongside the Saudis for the past 9 years, and that is because of common interests.
However, along with the UAE’s attempt to occupy the two provinces of Al-Mahra and Hadhramout, as well as the attempt to separate the port of Mokha in Taiz province by the remnants of Ali Abdullah Saleh, the Saudis think that Bin Zayed intends to besiege them. On the other hand, Bin Zayed is fundamentally stonewalling US-Saudi relations, and Biden tried to make him stand out against Bin Salman in a call with him last January.
None of these issues have escaped the eyes of the Saudi Crown Prince, who has many dreams in the back of his mind. One of the reasons why he quickly turned towards Iran and tried to normalize relations with Iran was the differences with the Emiratis and he had bad plans for Bin Zayed in mind.
Bin Salman remembers very well that it was Iran that helped the Qataris to prevent them from surrendering to the demands of him and the then crown prince of the UAE, and now if he is going to implement a plan against the Emirates, he needs Iran’s support and help. The Emiratis, who appear to be devoted to Iran, have been cleverly working against Iran, and this has given bin Salman hope that he will bring Iran along with him.
Regarding the level and size of the differences between the UAE and Saudi Arabia, the American newspaper Wall Street Journal, in a long report, dealt with the strong disagreement between Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, and Mohammed bin Zayed, the president of the UAE, and wrote that the crisis, the signs of which have been visible for a long time, has come true since last December.
The main reason for this crisis is the competition over who has the upper hand in the region, especially since the American influence has decreased and Bin Salman also feels that he no longer needs his former backbone- Bin Zayed.
One of the visible signs of this disagreement is Bin Zayed’s non-attendance at the last two summits in Saudi Arabia, namely the summit of Arab countries with the presence of the Chinese president and the second summit of Arab countries with the presence of Syria.
Last December, Bin Salman gathered domestic journalists in Riyadh for an unprecedented briefing session and conveyed a strange message to them, saying that the UAE, our old ally for the past few decades, stabbed us in the back and we must see what we can do. Bin Salman sent demands to the UAE similar to what the countries that sanctioned Qatar had demanded from Doha about six years earlier.
What Bin Salman said in the meeting indicated that the situation will be worse than what they did with Qatar. Bin Salman’s harsh language and his threat to punish the UAE similar to what he did in the siege of Qatar in 2017 caused the United States to worry.
The United States cannot create a deterrent power to confront Iran, and the disagreement between the two Persian Gulf countries is at a high level. Also, Washington is worried that this disagreement may delay the end of the war in Yemen and stop Saudi Arabia’s move toward normalizing relations with Israel.
The continued support of the UAE to the Transitional Council of Southern Yemen, which seeks to separate from the northern part, means that if the war continues, it will definitely clash with Riyadh, which supports the resigned government, and the two countries of Saudi Arabia and the UAE are competing over the implementation of development and economic plans in the war-torn country of Yemen.
According to one of Joe Biden’s government officials, Bin Salman and Bin Zayed are two very ambitious personalities who want to be the main players in the region and the first people to seek refuge with them. The two still cooperate on some levels, but at the moment it does not seem that either of them is happy that the other is at the same level. In general, the conflict between the two of them does not benefit us.
This American newspaper went on to quote some figures close to bin Salman and bin Zayed, even though these two figures were close to each other in the past, they have not spoken to each other for more than six months now.
With the mediation of the United States, Tahnoun bin Zayed, the brother of Mohammad bin Zayed and his security adviser, had the opportunity to talk to bin Salman, but bin Salman refused to talk to him during the last visit of this Emirati sheikh to Saudi Arabia. Nevertheless, Bin Salman informed his close friends that his conversation with Tahnoun will never change anything because he no longer trusts the UAE, even though Bin Zayed promised concessions in Yemen.
