I don't believe there has been a change in UAE policy towards Iran, at least not overnight. Iranian flights are landing at DXB, vessel traffic is unchanged, and the underlying logic of renewed economic engagement remains sound. There is a lot of confusion about yesterday's ballistic missile incident and the subsequent MFA statement refuting economic engagement with Iran. The UAE MOD first assessed that two ballistic missiles fired from Iran were heading towards the UAE. It later revised its assessment, stating that the missiles were targeting vessels in the Gulf. For its part, Iran has now denied targeting the UAE. In any case, the MFA statement was not linked to the missile attacks. It was simply issued on the same day. The statement does not mention the missiles and instead states that in light of "regional escalations... all trade, commercial exchanges, and financial transactions with Iran have been halted until further notice." This is not actually a description of a shift policy because the UAE *never formally announced* it was resuming trade ties with Iran. Instead, through the statement, the MFA statement rejected "all allegations regarding the status of the economic relationship between the United Arab Emirates and the Islamic Republic of Iran." In other words, the MFA was restating the policy adopted at the outset of the war, pushing back on the recent media reporting that the UAE and Iran have resumed economic relations as part of a narrow détente. Why issue this statement now? The UAE has been under pressure from the US in light of the Trump administration's plan to rely on economic pressure to undermine Iran. The Trump administration is likely to announce new sanctions measures and the MFA statement preempts any such move by Treasury, publicly signaling that there is no daylight between the US and UAE positions. This is important considering that the Trump administration has previously threatened the UAE with tariffs for its continued economic engagement with Iran. In reality, the UAE will maintain this public stance, but will continue to protects its interests by insisting on its own economic sovereignty. Importantly, the UAE is one of the few countries that is able to modulate its compliance with US sanctions as a function of government policy. If Trump's "maximum pressure" sanctions on Iran cause blowback that makes the UAE less secure and less prosperous, the UAE will take steps to mitigate those harms. In the area of economic diplomacy, the UAE has more agency than just about any country in the world. Washington does not actually call the shots for Abu Dhabi. It is possible that the UAE-Iran détente will fall apart in further rounds of escalation. But that is not what happened yesterday.