MBR demonstrates gulf between UAE and Saudi Arabia

The BBC’s interview with Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum (MBR), broadcast on 13 January, nicely illustrated just how keen the UAE is to differentiate itself from the other Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) states, and in particular Saudi Arabia, which for so long has sat atop the regional pecking order. The first, and most obvious, point of disjunction regarded Iran. Talking to Jon Sopel, MBR went so far as to say it was time to start lifting sanctions. “Give Iran space,” he said, sitting on a veranda at his desert home, to which he had driven the BBC correspondent in a 4x4 with number plate Dubai 1.