The United States, the United Arab Emirates, Israel, and Bahrain are set to cooperate in a multi-day naval drill as Iranian aggression increases in the region; All four countries are part of the historic Abraham Accords.
Following the institution of the historic Abraham Accords in 2020 via the Trump administration, the naval forces of the United States, the United Arab Emirates, Israel, and Bahrain are carrying out a joint naval exercise for the first time. The Abraham Accords also consists of Sudan and Morocco. However, neither of the two countries are involved in this drill.
A senior naval official for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) stated on Thursday, “This Iranian presence is something that we need to push back as much as possible from the State of Israel, from the Red Sea, from the areas that harm our freedom to sail…In order to do that, we need to make our partnerships tighter.”
He added, “Here the goal is to extend the range of the navy’s operations — for the good of the State of Israel and the IDF — to extend our ability to detect threats, to extend our sailing range, to prevent naval terror and also to retaliate, when we must, when it’s needed, against what the Iranians are doing.”
The exercise will last five days and is expected to not only enhance the military cooperation between the countries involved, but also put Iran on notice amid its aggression in the region.