Dr Anwar bin Mohammed Gargash, Diplomatic Adviser to the UAE President, speaks at the third annual Hili Forum in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on September 7, 2026.
UAE Turns to Ports, Pipelines and Railways to Reduce Hormuz Exposure
ABU DHABI, Sept. 7 (SCN NEWS) — The United Arab Emirates is accelerating alternative energy-export and trade corridors as the conflict involving Iran exposes the economic risks of dependence on the Strait of Hormuz, turning infrastructure resilience into a central element of the Gulf state's post-crisis security strategy.
Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, said on Monday that the country was expanding port capacity on its eastern coast while developing pipelines, railway links and alternative trade routes. Speaking at the third annual Hili Forum in Abu Dhabi, Gargash said the objective was to ensure that UAE energy exports, trade and wider economic activity could not be held hostage by regional conflict.
The strategy reflects lessons drawn from months of regional disruption that have placed the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world's most important maritime chokepoints, at the centre of the Gulf's economic-security calculations. Gargash said some of the infrastructure plans predated the latest crisis, but events had accelerated their timelines and increased the urgency of implementation. The UAE's approach suggests that redundancy in ports, pipelines, rail networks and overland trade corridors is increasingly being treated as a strategic asset rather than solely a commercial investment.
The shift is particularly significant for a country whose economic model depends on maintaining reliable connections between Gulf energy production, international shipping, aviation, logistics and global markets. Disruption around Hormuz has demonstrated how geopolitical confrontation can transmit rapidly into energy prices, freight flows and investor sentiment. Oil prices climbed to around six-week highs on Monday amid renewed threats against regional energy infrastructure, underscoring the economic consequences of continued instability.
Gargash also offered a broader assessment of the Gulf's response to the conflict, saying regional states had not converted their shared understanding of the Iranian challenge into a sufficiently unified strategic response. While national responses had demonstrated resilience, he argued that collective action had fallen short of the scale demanded by the crisis. His remarks place the UAE's infrastructure diversification within a wider debate about how Gulf states should reduce vulnerabilities while retaining international security partnerships.
That debate increasingly includes the idea of strategic autonomy. Gargash said the past six months had reshaped the Gulf's security environment and argued that greater national capability was a rational response to a more uncertain region. The message does not necessarily imply abandoning established partnerships, but rather building sufficient domestic and regional capacity so that essential economic activity can continue when external security arrangements or maritime routes come under severe pressure.
The Strait of Hormuz remains central to those calculations. Gargash described freedom of navigation as an established international principle rather than something that should be renegotiated under pressure. He also connected disruption in the waterway to food security, noting that the route carries not only energy supplies but significant volumes of fertilizers used in global agriculture. That makes prolonged instability a risk extending beyond Gulf oil exporters to consumers and agricultural economies worldwide.
The UAE's eastern coastline gives the country an important geographic option in its effort to diversify routes. Expanding port capacity there, combined with additional pipeline, railway and goods corridors, could provide greater flexibility when maritime traffic inside the Gulf faces disruption. The strategic objective is therefore broader than finding an emergency detour: it is to create overlapping transport and energy networks capable of maintaining commercial flows during future regional crises.
Relations with Iran remain another part of the calculation. Gargash said functional relations could eventually be restored but warned that rebuilding trust following attacks on Gulf states could take far longer. He argued that any durable regional settlement would need to address sovereignty, non-interference, freedom of navigation and guarantees against renewed attacks, while Iran's intentions would ultimately have to be judged through its actions.
The economic implications were already visible across Gulf markets on Monday. Dubai's main equity index rose 0.8%, while Saudi Arabia's benchmark declined 0.4% and Abu Dhabi was broadly stable as investors assessed renewed U.S.-Iran tensions and risks to regional energy infrastructure. Market sensitivity to developments around Hormuz illustrates why governments increasingly view trade-route diversification as part of national economic security.
For the UAE, the emerging strategy represents a convergence of foreign policy, infrastructure investment and economic planning. Ports and railways traditionally measured by cargo capacity are increasingly being assessed by another metric: whether they allow the country's economy to continue functioning when geopolitical confrontation disrupts established routes.
The longer-term significance may extend across the Gulf. If regional states increasingly invest in redundant ports, pipelines and overland corridors, the current crisis could accelerate a structural shift in how Gulf economies connect their energy and trading systems to world markets. For the UAE, Gargash's message in Abu Dhabi was clear: economic resilience is becoming inseparable from national security.