Iran's Geopolitical Power and the Normalization of Relations Between the UAE and Israel

This study aims to investigate the role of Iran's geopolitical power in aligning and normalizing relations between the United Arab Emirates and Israel. The findings show that Iran's growing power and threats in the Middle East geopolitics over the past decade have played an important role in normalizing UAE-Israel relations. Although the convergence and unification of the two countries have been done for the purpose of power balancing, the UAE, due to the lack of serious and immediate security threats, simply out of concern for Iran's hegemony and growing power in the region, aims to establish a policy of closeness with Israel. This is correlated to the fact that the Zionist regime has felt a severe and immediate security threat due to the increase in regional power, as well as Iran's influence near its borders and the rise of the Resistance Front over the past decade, and thus aimed at creating a balance of threat against Iranian threats, therefore striking alliance with the Gulf states, including the UAE, has become a foreign policy priority.