Senior officials from Qatar and the UAE have jointly warned that Gulf states can no longer depend solely on the United States for their security, urging greater regional defence cooperation in the wake of Iranian attacks. Speaking at the Hili Forum in Abu Dhabi, Qatar's foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al Ansari said "self-sufficiency when it comes to security is the only way forward," while UAE presidential adviser Anwar Gargash stressed that the war had exposed the need for Gulf countries to do more to protect themselves and secure firm guarantees against future Iranian aggression. Both officials also aligned on the Strait of Hormuz (the narrow waterway through which a fifth of global oil passes), insisting that freedom of navigation must not be subject to coercion and that their nations' energy exports would not be held hostage to any single state's control.