The United Arab Emirates announced on Tuesday that it had pulled out of OPEC and OPEC, dealing a heavy blow to the oil-exporting groups and their de facto leader Saudi Arabia at a time when the Iran war caused a historic energy shock and unsettled the global economy.
The stunning loss of the United Arab Emirates, a longtime member of OPEC, could cause confusion and weaken the group, which has typically struggled to present a united front despite internal disagreements on a range of issues from geopolitics to production quotas.
Gulf OPEC producers are already struggling to export by ship through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow connecting point between Iran and Oman through which a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas normally passes, due to Iranian threats and attacks against the vessels.
But the UAE’s withdrawal from OPEC is a big win for US President Donald Trump, who has accused the organization of “robbing the rest of the world” by inflating oil prices.
Trump also linked U.S. military support for the Persian Gulf to oil prices, saying that while the U.S. defends OPEC members, “they take advantage of that by imposing high oil prices.”
The move came after the UAE, a regional trade hub and one of Washington’s most important allies, criticized Arab states for not doing enough to protect them from numerous Iranian attacks during the war.
Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to the president of the United Arab Emirates, criticized the Arab and Gulf response to the Iranian attacks at a session of the Gulf Influencers Forum on Monday.
“The countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council supported each other logistically, but politically and militarily I think their position was historically the weakest,” Gargash said.
“I expect this weak stance from the Arab League and I’m not surprised, but I didn’t expect it from the Gulf Cooperation Council and I’m surprised,” he said.
