Steve Witkoff Meets UAE Security Adviser Sheikh Tahnoon as US Sanctions Target Iran Trade

White House envoy Steve Witkoff met UAE national security adviser Sheikh Tahnoon Bin Zayed al Nahyan in Sardinia to coordinate next steps on Iran, according to Axios as cited by i24NEWS.

“Witkoff met with Sheikh Tahnoon Bin Zayed al Nahyan (TBZ) on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia.”

yalibnan

The meeting came days after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced “Operation Economic Outcast,” a campaign threatening sanctions on countries and entities doing business with Iran, i24NEWS reported.

Al Jazeera

On the day of the meeting, the Treasury Department moved to cut off the UAE branches of Egypt’s Banque Misr from the US financial system over its dealings with Iran, prompting the UAE central bank to launch an “urgent examination” of the bank’s Iran-related transactions, y a libnan said.

y a libnan also said the UAE decided to halt all trade, commercial exchange and financial transactions with Iran, and that trade between the two countries in 2024 reached $28 billion.

In the days that followed, the IRGC intensified attacks on UAE oil tankers transiting the Strait of Hormuz, and Emirati officials suspended all business with Iran, according to i24NEWS and y a libnan.

y a libnan said Secretary of State Marco Rubio instructed all U.S. embassies around the world to issue formal diplomatic demarches demanding host governments “immediately and systematically” sever trade with Iran.

The same article said the demarche stressed that countries, companies and individuals that continue doing business with Iran risk being sanctioned and disconnected from the dollar system, and it described a special message sent to posts in Abu Dhabi, Muscat, Hong Kong, Doha, London, Berlin and several Central Asian capitals.

Al-Manar

i24NEWS reported that Emirati officials told Washington that any effective pressure campaign must include all of Iran's major trading partners.

i24NEWS also said the UAE’s shift was driven by looming US secondary sanctions and Iranian attacks on Emirati oil tankers, while adding that sanctions were not the primary factor.

Both outlets tied the pressure campaign to the Trump administration’s effort to establish an interagency task force to coordinate enforcement of the broader economic pressure campaign against Iran, as described by i24NEWS and y a libnan.

Fortune reported that U.S. FEnergy Secretary Chris Wright said “Over 17 million barrels of oil flowed through the Strait of Hormuz on ships on Monday,” and it quoted TankerTrackers.com co-founder Samir Madani calling it “mathemagics.”

“Over 17 million barrels of oil flowed through the Strait of Hormuz on ships on Monday.”

Fortune

Fortune said that on Monday, Aug. F31, only an estimated 9.14 million barrels of oil exited the Arabian Sea—including volumes through Hormuz and other routes, according to Madani.

In parallel, y a libnan said the talks between Witkoff and Sheikh Tahnoon took place amid the Trump administration’s push to reopen the Strait of Hormuz while choking Iran economically.

Al Jazeera reported that Chinese President Xi Jinping urged Middle East countries to oppose external influence and consider reshaping the region’s security order during his rare Egypt visit with Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

Al Jazeera also said Xi’s remarks came as Beijing seeks to expand its influence in the region amid the United States-Israel war with Iran, and it quoted Xinhua saying, “We must uphold the principle that the people of the Middle East are the masters of their own affairs”.