UAE bans citizens from travelling to Iran, Lebanon and Iraq

The United Arab Emirates has issued a travel ban prohibiting its citizens from visiting Iran, Lebanon and Iraq, the official WAM news agency reported Thursday.

"In light of current regional developments," the UAE Foreign Ministry announced the ban and called on all Emirati nationals currently in those three countries to "accelerate their immediate return."

The move comes in the wake of Iranian missile strikes that targeted Emirati civilian and energy infrastructure during the conflict triggered by the joint Israeli-American offensive against Tehran on 28 February. A fragile ceasefire has since been announced, but Abu Dhabi clearly regards the security situation as too volatile to allow its citizens to travel freely to countries within Iran's sphere of influence.

The decision reflects the profound rupture between the UAE and Tehran that the conflict has produced. 

As Anwar Gargash, the UAE president's diplomatic adviser, bluntly put it last week: "You cannot be hit by 2,800 missiles and drones and then talk about trust." The travel ban is the practical expression of that sentiment, a signal that for Abu Dhabi, business as usual with Iran and its allies is no longer on the table.