ABU DHABI (Dispatches) — The United Arab Emirates has emerged as a key profiteer of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, with Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) buying millions of barrels of Iraqi crude at steep discounts while the war chokes off Persian Gulf supply routes, Reuters reported.
Three sources with knowledge of the deals said ADNOC’s trading arm became the largest buyer of Iraqi crude across August and September, reviving exports that had collapsed during the war’s opening months.
One Iraqi energy source said ADNOC agreed to take 32 million barrels in August at discounts ranging from $25 to $27 a barrel for loading across September and October. The company then agreed to a further 40 million barrels in September — 10 million discounted by $18 a barrel and 30 million by $25.
A second Iraqi source said the state oil marketing organization, SOMO, had set aside 32 million barrels for ADNOC in August, but the Emirati company took only 20 million barrels because of export bottlenecks and Basra Oil Company’s failure to secure enough crude. That source put ADNOC’s September purchases at 14 million barrels so far.
Iraq has shipped about 2 million bpd this month, down from 2.354 million bpd in August but well above the 1.374 million bpd recorded in July. Emirati crude exports have climbed to 3.236 million bpd this month, up from 2.886 million bpd in August and 2.871 million bpd in July.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian met Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Zayed on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in New Delhi, where Pezeshkian said the two sides had agreed “to put the past behind us and look to the future.”
But the UAE’s actions tell a different story. Abu Dhabi did not merely sit on the sidelines as the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran — it was a key enabler of the aggression, providing basing, logistics, and diplomatic cover for a war that has killed thousands and destabilized the region.
Abu Dhabi’s calculus was simple: Iran would be crushed, and the Persian Gulf would be redrawn on Israeli-American terms. That calculation failed. Iran absorbed the blows, retaliated, and survived. Now the UAE is scrambling to capitalize on the chaos it helped create.
The International Energy Agency’s monthly report released on 11 September warned that global oil inventories are draining at record speed, projecting an average global deficit of about 1.7 million bpd for 2026, up from 1.3 million forecast in July.
The UAE’s aggressive buying of ports across the region and Africa, often in cooperation with Israel, has sparked mounting scrutiny. From Aden to the Horn of Africa, Abu Dhabi has positioned itself as a logistics and intelligence hub for a US-Israeli order that treats sovereignty as an obstacle.
Malicious, opportunistic, and complicit: Abu Dhabi has established itself as a bad actor, profiting from a war it helped unleash while posing as a peacemaker.