Oil war: The UAE declares the end of the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council
The United Arab Emirates has left OPEC and OPEC+, a decision that took effect on May 1, 2026, and amounts to a declaration of war against Saudi Arabia's leadership of the oil cartel.
This is not a routine administrative change but a new chapter in the long-standing rivalry between the two Persian Gulf states across nearly every domain. The UAE framed its "oil independence" as a response to Iran's defensive attacks on American interests and the weak reaction of other Gulf states to those attacks.
Ironically, Iran once served as the driver that brought the monarchies together into the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council in 1981, and now Iran is being used again — this time as a pretext — to justify the UAE's defiance.
The PGCC was announced from within the UAE in May 1981, with Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, the UAE, Qatar, and Bahrain as founding members, officially justified by the Iraq-Iran War.
Those same Persian Gulf states that supported Saddam Hussein against Iran did not defend Baghdad against the US invasion in 2003 and have shown no real "chivalry" in defending Palestine, Lebanon, or Syria.
The UAE's withdrawal from OPEC was announced on April 27, 2026 — the same day an Emirati official spoke about reshaping the image of the Persian Gulf in global media, insisting that disagreements are minor compared to five decades of achievements. But Emirati Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash has openly criticized the PGCC, describing its stance as historically weak in the face of Iranian challenges.
The episode argues that the very country that announced the founding of the PGCC is now delivering the blow that will bring about its end, at least in the form known for over forty years.
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