At a Council on Foreign Relations event Tuesday, United Arab Emirates presidential adviser Anwar Gargash said that Iran’s incessant attacks on Gulf countries will produce the opposite effect of what Iran had intended. Rather than pushing the Arab states to pressure the United States to back down, the attacks will push them to align with Israel — including countries that do not have diplomatic ties to the Jewish state.

“Iran’s full-throttle attack on the Gulf states will actually strengthen the Israeli role in the Gulf, will not diminish it,” he said.

“For countries that have relations with Israel, this is — you know, this relationship, in my opinion, will be even more strengthened,” he added. “For countries that don’t have, I expect … that more channels will be open.”

The UAE is one of four countries that entered the Abraham Accords with Israel, joining Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan in signing the 2020 agreement. Since then, other countries like Azerbaijan have signaled their willingness to join the Accords.

While Iran has relentlessly launched missile attacks against Israel since the joint Israeli-U.S. military campaign began on Feb. 28, it has launched more drone and missile attacks against Gulf states than against Israel, targeting oil facilities, airports, diplomatic buildings, and civilian residential and commercial infrastructure. Iran has also taken hostage the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil is shipped, throwing the global economy into a tailspin.

Iran’s fierce and massive bombardment has opened the eyes of its neighbors to the danger of living next door to the authoritarian Islamic regime as long as it remains capable of inflicting harm not only via its weaponry but also through its ability to control the Strait of Hormuz. Nevertheless, out of fear of drawing the region into a raging conflict, they have refrained from retaliating against Iran, content to allow the United States and Israel to do the job for now.

Nevertheless, Gargash, whose country has faced more Iranian attacks than the other Arab states — 327 ballistic missiles, 15 cruise missiles and 1,699 drones have been intercepted, two UAE soldiers and six civilians have been killed, and 158 have been wounded — said that the UAE would consider joining an American effort to secure the vital waterway.

“We’re not seeing 2,000 Israeli missiles and drones targeting us,” Gargash pointed out. “We’re seeing 2,000 Iranian missiles and drones targeting us.”