Speaking at the Tel Aviv Conference in Tel Aviv, Huckabee said Israel had assisted the UAE’s air defenses amid heightened regional tensions and ongoing uncertainty surrounding the fragile ceasefire between Iran and Israel.

“Israel just sent them Iron Dome batteries and personnel to help operate them,” Huckabee said, praising the UAE as the first Gulf state to normalize relations with Israel under the Abraham Accords.
The UAE did not immediately comment on Huckabee’s remarks.

The disclosure underscores increasingly open military coordination between Israel and Gulf Arab states that share concerns over Iran’s regional influence and missile capabilities.

Regional tensions remain elevated despite the current ceasefire, with concerns continuing over security in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital global oil shipping route long viewed as vulnerable to disruption during confrontations involving Tehran.

Huckabee also expressed optimism that additional Middle Eastern countries could join the Abraham Accords, which established formal diplomatic relations between Israel and several Arab states, including Bahrain.

The accords, brokered in 2020, reshaped regional alignments by fostering economic, diplomatic and security ties between Israel and Arab governments concerned about Iran’s expanding influence.

However, broader normalization efforts across the Arab world have been complicated by Israel’s military operations following the Hamas-led attacks in 2023 and the continuing conflicts in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria.

Huckabee said Gulf governments increasingly viewed Iran, rather than Israel, as the more immediate regional security threat.

In a statement published on X, Aboul Gheit said continued escalation risked undermining ongoing mediation and diplomatic initiatives aimed at resolving regional crises through political channels. He did not identify the parties responsible for the attacks.

The Arab League chief also expressed solidarity with Bahrain after Bahraini authorities announced the arrest of individuals allegedly linked to foreign entities accused of attempting to destabilize the kingdom’s security and internal stability.

The remarks come as regional tensions remain elevated amid the broader fallout from the conflict involving Iran and mounting security concerns among Gulf states over attacks on infrastructure, maritime routes and sovereign territory.

Aboul Gheit reiterated the Arab League’s support for measures adopted by Gulf governments to safeguard national sovereignty and maintain regional stability, according to the statement.

The comments were issued against the backdrop of intensified diplomatic activity across the Middle East, with regional and international actors seeking to contain the spillover risks of the Iran-related conflict and prevent further disruptions to Gulf security and shipping corridors.

The announcement was made through the state-run WAM news agency, which said the decision reflects the country’s changing economic priorities and expanding domestic energy ambitions.“This decision reflects the UAE’s long-term strategic and economic vision and evolving energy profile, including accelerated investment in domestic energy production, and reinforces its commitment to a responsible, reliable, and forward-looking role in global energy markets,” the government said in a statement.

The UAE did not provide further details on how the move would affect its crude production policy or its broader cooperation with OPEC+, the wider alliance of oil-producing nations led by Saudi Arabia and Russia.

The decision comes at a time of heightened volatility in global energy markets, with oil prices rising sharply amid continued tensions surrounding the Iran war and concerns over supply routes through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical channel for global crude shipments.

The UAE has in recent years expanded its oil production capacity while also investing heavily in natural gas, renewables and low-carbon energy technologies as part of its broader diversification strategy.

Its departure from OPEC could reshape internal dynamics within the producer group, where production targets and output discipline have often been subjects of negotiation among member states.

OPEC, headquartered in Vienna, was founded in 1960 and remains one of the world’s most influential oil alliances, coordinating output policies among major exporters to stabilize prices and manage market supply.

The UAE has been one of the organization’s key Gulf members and among its largest producers, making its exit one of the most significant institutional changes for the cartel in recent years.

Markets and analysts are expected to closely watch whether Abu Dhabi maintains coordination with OPEC+ informally or pursues a more independent production strategy after its formal withdrawal takes effect.

United Arab Emirates presidential adviser Anwar Gargash said the UAE had emerged stronger from the conflict, despite efforts to avoid escalation.

“The UAE emerged victorious from a war we sincerely sought to avoid,” Gargash wrote on X, adding that the country was better positioned to navigate regional complexities and influence future developments.

In Oman, officials stressed the importance of mediation and sustained engagement, with the foreign minister pledging support for initiatives aimed at achieving “strong and enduring regional security.”

Omani authorities urged Washington and Tehran to pursue serious negotiations to secure a durable peace.Saudi Arabia also backed diplomatic efforts, with its foreign ministry emphasizing the need for an agreement that addresses underlying causes of instability and long-term threats to regional security.

The responses highlight a broader regional push to consolidate the ceasefire into a lasting settlement, amid concerns over the potential for renewed tensions and the wider impact on Middle East stability.

Speaking to reporters, Zelensky said the messages followed a sharp escalation in global energy prices linked to widening conflict in the Middle East, which has disrupted supplies of oil, gas and refined products. He said Kyiv remained open to an Easter ceasefire under reciprocal conditions.

Signals tied to energy market pressuresA source familiar with the matter said U.S. officials had conveyed the concerns during routine contacts with Ukrainian counterparts, adding that the initial signals appeared to have originated from Moscow.

The US State Department and Russia’s embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment.Ukraine has intensified strikes on Russian oil facilities in recent months as part of its broader strategy to undermine revenues supporting Moscow’s military campaign.

The reported outreach from allies reflects concern that such attacks could further tighten global supply at a time of already elevated prices.Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure have left the country facing acute shortages, forcing authorities to secure alternative supplies.

Zelensky said Kyiv had reached agreements with several Middle Eastern countries to bolster energy support following a recent regional visit.He said Ukraine had secured a deal for year-long diesel deliveries, critical for both military operations and the agricultural sector, though he did not disclose volumes or suppliers.

Ukraine also signed framework cooperation agreements with Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and indicated another agreement was being prepared with the United Arab Emirates.

Zelensky said he had also discussed air defense needs with regional leaders, but noted that partners were currently prioritizing deployments to the Middle East due to ongoing hostilities involving Iran.

He added that Ukraine risked being sidelined in the allocation of advanced anti-ballistic missile systems as international focus shifts toward the escalating regional conflict.

The government praised the efforts of the Iraqi negotiators who it said were able to preserve the role of fossil fuels as a tool for development and prevented the adoption of texts sought by some developed countries which are “harmful to the interests of our peoples”.

The deal struck in Dubai after two weeks of hard-fought negotiations was meant to send a powerful signal to investors and policy-makers that the world is united in its desire to break with fossil fuels, something scientists say is the last best hope to stave off climate catastrophe.

COP28 President Sultan Al Jaber called the deal “historic” but added that its true success would be in its implementation.

“We are what we do, not what we say,” he told the crowded plenary at the summit. “We must take the steps necessary to turn this agreement into tangible actions.”

Several countries cheered the deal for accomplishing something elusive in decades of climate talks.

“It is the first time that the world unites around such a clear text on the need to transition away from fossil fuels,” said Norway Minister of Foreign Affairs Espen Barth Eide.

More than 100 countries had lobbied hard for strong language in the COP28 agreement to “phase out” oil, gas and coal use, but came up against powerful opposition from the Saudi Arabia-led oil producer group OPEC, which argued that the world can slash emissions without shunning specific fuels.

That battle pushed the summit a full day into overtime on Wednesday, and had some observers worried the negotiations would end at an impasse.

Members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries control nearly 80% of the world’s proven oil reserves along with about a third of global oil output, and their governments rely heavily on those revenues.

Small climate-vulnerable island states, meanwhile, were among the most vocal supporters of language to phase out fossil fuels and had the backing of huge oil and gas producers such as the United States, Canada and Norway, along with the EU bloc and scores of other governments.

“This is a moment where multilateralism has actually come together and people have taken individual interests and attempted to define the common good,” U.S. climate envoy John Kerry said after the deal was adopted.

The lead negotiator for the Alliance of Small Island States, Anne Rasmussen, criticised the deal as unambitious.

“We have made an incremental advancement over business as usual, when what we really need is an exponential step change in our actions,” she said.

But she did not formally object to the pact, and her speech drew a standing ovation.

Danish Minister for Climate and Energy Dan Jorgensen marveled at the circumstances of the deal: “We’re standing here in an oil country, surrounded by oil countries, and we made the decision saying let’s move away from oil and gas.”

Emissions Reduction

The deal calls for “transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly and equitable manner … so as to achieve net zero by 2050 in keeping with the science.”

It also calls for a tripling of renewable energy capacity globally by 2030, speeding up efforts to reduce coal use, and accelerating technologies such as carbon capture and storage that can clean up hard-to-decarbonize industries.

A representative for Saudi Arabia welcomed the deal, saying it would help the world limit global warming to the targeted 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) over pre-industrial times set in the 2015 Paris deal, but repeated the oil producer’s stance that tackling climate change was about reducing emissions.

“We must use every opportunity to reduce emissions regardless of the source,” he said.

Several other oil producer countries, including the summit host UAE, had advocated for a role for carbon capture in the pact. Critics say the technology remains expensive and unproven at scale, and argue it is a false flag to justify continued drilling.

Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore also welcomed the deal, but said: “The influence of petrostates is still evident in the half measures and loopholes included in the final agreement.”

Now that the deal is struck, countries are responsible for delivering through national policies and investments.

In the United States, the world’s top producer of oil and gas and the top historical emitter of greenhouse gases, climate-conscious administrations have struggled to pass laws aligned with their climate vows through a divided Congress.

U.S. President Joe Biden scored a major victory on that front last year with passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, which contained hundreds of billions of dollars in clean energy subsidies.

Mounting public support for renewables and electric vehicles from Brussels to Beijing in recent years, along with improving technology, sliding costs, and rising private investment have also driven rapid growth in their deployments.

Even so, oil, gas, and coal still account for about 80% of the world’s energy, and projections vary widely about when global demand will finally hit its peak.

Rachel Cleetus, policy director at the Union of Concerned Scientists, praised the climate deal, but noted that it does not commit rich countries to offer more financing to help developing countries pay for the transition away from fossil fuels.

“The finance and equity provisions… are seriously insufficient and must be improved in the time ahead in order to ensure low- and middle-income countries can transition to clean energy and close the energy poverty gap,” she said.

For daily comprehensive coverage on COP28 in your inbox, sign up for the Reuters Sustainable Switch newsletter here

Africa’s number 2 copper producer Zambia last month picked IRH, a unit of Abu Dhabi’s most valuable listed company International Holding Company (IHC.AD) (IHC), as the new strategic equity partner in the state-owned Mopani Copper Mine.

IRH, which was not immediately available for comment, is actively pursuing the acquisition of metal assets including copper, nickel, graphite, manganese, cobalt and lithium which are essential to the UAE’s clean green energy drive.

Jubilee, which mainly focuses on recovering metals from mineral waste, said it had secured IRH’s investment to process an estimated 350 million metric tons of copper waste rock, which could potentially yield “in excess of 20,000 tons per annum of copper at a cost of below $4,000 per tonne of copper”.

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Jubilee said it had agreed with IRH to form a dedicated special purpose vehicle through which both the acquisition of the copper waste rock and implementation of the processing solution will be funded, at an estimated cost of $50 million.

“Under the funding term sheet IRH undertakes to provide all capital required by the special purpose vehicle through a combination of equity in the special purpose vehicle and shareholder loans,” Jubilee said in a statement.

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The construction and commissioning of the copper retreatment works would be completed within a 12 month period, Jubilee said, with work expected to start in the first quarter of 2024.

Jubilee will design, implement and operate the mining and processing project on behalf of the joint venture, it added.

The news agency said Sudan’s foreign ministry summoned the acting UAE Chargé d’affaires and informed her of the decision. No further details were given.

Late last month, a top Sudanese general said the UAE had been sending supplies to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the powerful paramilitary force at war with the army.

In response, a UAE official said that from the outset of the war, the UAE had “consistently called for de-escalation, a ceasefire, and the initiation of diplomatic dialogue” in Sudan.

The war began in mid-April. It has displaced more than 6.5 million people and triggered waves of ethnically driven killings in Darfur that have been blamed on the RSF and allied Arab militias.

The RSF has denied carrying out ethnic cleansing in Darfur.

Negotiators and observers at the annual U.N. climate talks, pursuing a deal to tackle the worst impacts of climate change, said several OPEC members appeared to have heeded calls by the oil producer group to veto any deal to phase out fossil fuels.

In a letter dated Wednesday, OPEC Secretary General Haitham Al Ghais called on members to reject language targeting fossil fuels, saying “the undue and disproportionate pressure against fossil fuels may reach a tipping point with irreversible consequences”.

Al Ghais declined to comment on the letter but said OPEC wanted to keep the focus of the talks on reducing emissions, as opposed to picking energy sources.

“The world requires major investments in all energies, including hydrocarbons,” he said. “Energy transitions must be just, fair and inclusive.”

At least 80 countries are demanding a COP28 deal that calls for an eventual end to fossil fuel use, the top source of planet-warming emissions, to try to get on track to reach the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

But they face a struggle to persuade countries that rely on oil and gas for revenue, many of which are instead promoting technologies like carbon capture, which is expensive and has yet to be proven at scale.

Tina Stege, climate envoy of the Republic of the Marshall Islands – one of the places worst affected by climate change, said any pushback on including a phase-out of fossil fuels risked the world’s prosperity.

“Nothing puts the prosperity and future of all people on earth, including all of the citizens of OPEC countries, at greater risk than fossil fuels,” said Stege, whose country chairs the High Ambition Coalition, a group of nations pushing for more ambitious emissions targets and policies.

“This is why the High Ambition Coalition is pushing for a phase out of fossil fuels, which are at the root of this crisis. 1.5 is not negotiable, and that means an end to fossil fuels,” she said in a statement.

Critical Stage’

After a week of technical talks, the negotiations now have ministerial input before the scheduled end of the summit on Tuesday – the last phase when countries wrestle to find consensus over the wording regarding fossil fuels.

The latest version of the negotiating text includes a range of options – from agreeing to a “phase out of fossil fuels in line with best available science”, to phasing out “unabated fossil fuels”, to including no language on them at all.

Germany’s state secretary and special envoy for climate action, Jennifer Morgan, said counties were now “moving into the critical stage of negotiations”.

“It is time for all countries to remember what is at stake and to be ready to send the signal the world needs at this critical moment of the global climate crisis. I am concerned that not all are constructively engaging.”

Asked about the OPEC letter, COP28 Director General Majid Al Suwaidi avoided the term “fossil fuels” but said the United Arab Emirates, as president of the summit, wanted a deal to get the world on track for 1.5 degrees.

“Our COP president has been very clear from day one that he wants to achieve an outcome that puts us clearly on track for 1.5 degrees,” he told a news conference. “He clearly wants to see an outcome that is as ambitious as possible and we believe we are going to deliver it.”

Negotiators have a tough job ahead.

Wael Aboulmagd, special representative to the COP27 Egyptian presidency, said there were too many options in the text on fossil fuels, adding there was also deadlock in talks on measures to help nations adapt to extreme weather and other climate change impacts.

“We still have some serious issues with adaptation. We are still way behind on that.”