Plumes of smoke rise from an oil facility in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, Saturday, March 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
Lavan Island was reportedly targeted in covert Emirati military strikes in early April.
By Vered Weiss, World Israel News
The Trump administration is encouraging the United Arab Emirates to take a larger operational role against Iran, including seizing Lavan Island, a former Trump administration official told The Telegraph, amid growing military and strategic coordination between the UAE, the United States and Israel.
“Go take ’em!” the former official said. “It would be UAE boots on the ground instead of US.”
The comments came after reports that Emirati and Israeli officials held meetings focused on military and security coordination related to Iran.
Lavan Island was reportedly targeted in covert Emirati military strikes in early April.
Around the same period as President Donald Trump’s announcement of a partial ceasefire, Emirati forces using Western-made fighter jets and drones allegedly carried out attacks on several Iranian targets, including the refinery on the island.
The reported strike ignited a major fire and disabled much of the refinery’s production capacity.
The UAE was the country most heavily targeted during the recent conflict between the United States and Iran, sustaining attacks involving 2,800 missiles and drones.
The fighting reportedly strengthened ties between the UAE, the United States and Israel, while deepening tensions between Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia.
The growing divide was reflected in the UAE’s departure from OPEC.
“The longer this is going on, the more time they’ve had to reflect about their place in the world, their place in the Gulf – who’s a friend and who’s not,” Barbara Leaf, a former US ambassador to the UAE, told The New York Times.
Leaf added: “They are looking at things in pretty stark, black-and-white terms, of friend or foe.”
The reports described increasing alignment between the UAE and Israel on regional security issues following the recent war with Iran.
The discussions reportedly focused on military strategy and broader security planning.
The Telegraph report said the Trump administration viewed a larger Emirati role in operations against Iran as preferable to deploying American ground forces directly.
The reported discussions and operations centered in part on Lavan Island, which was described as a strategic Iranian energy target.
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