Muhammed Yasin Güngör
03 September 2026•Update: 03 September 2026
White House envoy Steve Witkoff held discussions with the United Arab Emirates’ national security adviser to coordinate a new economic offensive against Tehran, the Axios news website reported Wednesday.
Witkoff met Sheikh Tahnoon Bin Zayed al Nahyan (TBZ), the brother of the UAE president and a deputy ruler of Abu Dhabi, on the island of Sardinia.
The White House did not provide a comment on the Sardinia meeting.
The meeting took place days after US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced Operation Economic Outcast, a strategy intended to sever all financial lifelines to Tehran.
The US Treasury Department moved to disconnect UAE-based branches of Egypt’s Banque Misr from the US financial system because of its ties to Iran, on the day of the meeting.
The UAE recently decided to terminate all commercial and financial transactions with Tehran, a decision driven by looming US secondary sanctions and persistent attacks from Iran.
An Iranian delegation visited Abu Dhabi on Aug. 11 seeking food aid and de-escalation. Iranians also asked the UAE not to cooperate with the US sanctions, but Abu Dhabi rejected the request, according to Axios. In the following days, as Iran intensified attacks on Emirati oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, the UAE grew furious and decided to suspend all business with Iran, sources told Axios.
Emirati officials reportedly emphasized to Washington that any pressure campaign must involve all of Tehran’s major trading partners to remain effective.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio directed American embassies to issue a formal demarche, a diplomatic request, demanding that host governments "immediately and systematically" sever trade ties with Iran.
