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https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/uae-iran-war-strait-of-hormuz-9836ecbb

The United Arab Emirates is preparing to help the U.S. and other allies open the Strait of Hormuz by force, Arab officials said, a move that would make it the first Persian Gulf country to become a combatant, after being hit by Iranian attacks.

The U.A.E. is lobbying for a United Nations Security Council resolution that would authorize such action, the officials said. Emirati diplomats have urged the U.S. and military powers in Europe and Asia to form a coalition to open the strait by force, a U.A.E official said, adding that the Iranian regime thinks it is fighting for its existence and is willing to bring the global economy down with it in a chokehold on the strait.

The U.A.E. official said the country was actively reviewing how it could play a military role in securing the strait, including efforts to help clear it of mines and other support services.

The Gulf state has also said the U.S. should occupy islands in the strategic waterway including Abu Musa, which has been held by Iran for a half-century and is claimed by the U.A.E., some of the Arab officials said.

In a statement, the U.A.E. Foreign Ministry pointed to a separate resolution passed by the U.N. condemning Iran’s attacks on its cities and to one made by another U.N. body, the International Maritime Organization, condemning the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

The Emirati Foreign Ministry said there is “broad global consensus that freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz must be preserved.”

Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states are now turning against Iran’s regime and want the war to continue until it is disabled or toppled, Arab officials said, though they have stopped short of committing their military. Bahrain, a close U.S. ally that hosts the Navy’s Fifth Fleet, is sponsoring the U.N. resolution, with a vote expected Thursday.

The U.A.E.’s newly assertive approach is a fundamental shift in its strategic outlook, said officials from a Persian Gulf state. The U.A.E.’s commercial center, Dubai, has long financed the Iranian regime. Emirati diplomats were racing to mediate between the U.S. and Iran before the war, an effort that included a visit to Abu Dhabi by Ali Larijani, an Iranian national-security official who later died in an airstrike.

Now, the Gulf state is falling into line with President Trump’s push for allies to carry more of the burden in the war, particularly to help open the Strait of Hormuz. The Wall Street Journal has reported that Trump has told aides that he is willing to end the war without reopening the strait, leaving the matter to other countries.

U.A.E. participation in freeing the strait carries risks. Positioning itself as a belligerent against Iran could set the stage for tension that outlasts the end of the war.