Near the end of 2025, what had been quiet tensions bubbling beneath the surface suddenly erupted into full view in an oil-rich region of the Middle East, when Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, once allies, surprised the world with a very public clash. Their rift had been growing behind the scenes for years before it exploded in public, raising concerns about a relationship with enormous geopolitical importance.
The two Gulf powerhouses are running into increasing areas of disagreement. The most recent and most dramatic one centered on neighboring Yemen, where Riyadh and Abu Dhabi are currently backing different sides in the country’s ongoing three-sided conflict. The divergent policies escalated into ominous public threats on Dec. 30, when Saudi Arabia gave the UAE just 24 hours to withdraw its troops from Yemen and stop supporting the Southern Transitional Council, a separatist bloc that opposes the Iran-backed Houthis but also seeks independence for southern Yemen. By contrast, Riyadh backs the country’s internationally recognized government in its effort to regain control of a unified Yemen.
The Saudis claimed that the UAE-backed STC, which controlled much of Yemen and had just captured more territory, was a threat to the kingdom. If the UAE withdrawal did not occur, the Saudi Foreign Ministry warned, “the Kingdom will not hesitate to take all necessary steps and measures to confront and neutralize such a threat.” To underline their point, hours earlier the Saudis had bombed a shipment at Yemen’s Mukalla port, claiming it carried weapons sent by the UAE to arm the STC.