UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman have warned US President Donald Trump in recent days against ending the Iran war without securing meaningful constraints on Tehran’s regional threat, two sources familiar with the matter told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday.
Their concern centers on the possibility that Iran could emerge from the conflict still capable of endangering neighboring states and disrupting maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.
The sources told the Post that both leaders have been pressing Trump behind closed doors not to offer concessions that would leave Iran’s military posture fundamentally intact.
“No one knows how or when Trump will decide to end the war, and therefore all the Gulf states are worried,” one of the sources said.
They noted that the Emirati and Saudi leadership view the current conflict as a rare strategic opening to weaken Iran’s ability to project power across the Gulf.
“Their message to Trump and other senior US officials has been that this is a ‘historic opportunity’ and that any endgame should leave Iran unable to resume the pattern of coercion that has defined its regional posture.
Gulf states seek tougher endgame on Iran, Hormuz
Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to the UAE president, recently said that any political resolution to Iran’s attacks on Gulf states must include guarantees against renewed attacks, as well as compensation for loss of life and damage to critical infrastructure.
Gargash also made clear that, in Abu Dhabi’s view, the war should not end with a ceasefire alone, but with concrete limits on Iran’s nuclear program, drones, missiles, and conduct in the Strait of Hormuz.
Saudi officials have not issued equally explicit public demands, but people familiar with the discussions said Riyadh has privately argued that the conflict should continue until Iran no longer constitutes a serious regional threat.
One of the clearest examples of that concern is the Strait of Hormuz, through which about one-fifth of global oil exports pass. Gulf officials fear Trump could accept an end to hostilities without first ensuring full freedom of navigation there, especially as The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that the president has told aides he is willing to end the war even if the waterway remains largely closed, one day before publication of this article.
That concern was reinforced during a White House briefing on Monday, March 30, 2026, in the US when press secretary Karoline Leavitt set out the administration’s stated war aims. She said the objectives were the destruction of Iran’s navy, the elimination of ballistic missiles, the dismantling of defense-industrial infrastructure used to threaten the United States and its allies, and preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
Asked whether restoring full freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz was also a central objective, Leavitt said the administration was working toward reopening the strait, but stopped short of defining it as one of the operation’s core goals.
For Gulf capitals that have spent weeks under Iranian missile and drone pressure, that distinction has deepened fears that Washington’s definition of success may fall short of their own security requirements.
Gulf pressure grows as Trump weighs war’s end
The White House position comes as Trump has publicly mixed threats of escalation with suggestions that a deal may be near. On Monday, he again warned Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face strikes on oil wells, power plants, and other infrastructure, while recent reporting also indicated he is considering avoiding a longer military operation to fully reopen the passage by force.
For the UAE and Saudi Arabia, the issue is no longer only the current round of fighting, but what Iran could still do after it ends.
“The situation must conclude with curbing the nuclear threat, drones, missiles, and Iranian aggression in the Strait of Hormuz,” Gargash said, encapsulating a view increasingly shared across Gulf leadership circles.