TEL AVIV, March 17 (Reuters) – The United Arab Emirates could take part in a U.S.-led effort to safeguard shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a senior Emirati official said on Tuesday, though he also said that no formal plan had been agreed and discussions were ongoing.
“We all have a responsibility to ensure the flow of trade, the flow of energy,” Anwar Gargash, the diplomatic adviser to the country’s president, said at an online event hosted by the American think tank the Council on Foreign Relations.
Gargash also said that once the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran ends, an arrangement would be needed to ensure that Iran cannot use its nuclear, missile or drone programs “to terrorize the region.”
Concerns have mounted over the security of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has effectively blocked, and as President Donald Trump has sought to rally countries to deploy warships to escort tankers through the strategic waterway.
(Reporting by Alexander Cornwell; Editing by Alistair Bell)
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