The UAE, Iran, and the Hostage at the Heart of the Oil War

About this episode

The episode discusses the UAE's exit from OPEC and its implications for global oil politics and small states.

The UAE has just walked out of OPEC after nearly 60 years, and the timing is no accident. This week, we head to Abu Dhabi and Dubai to ask what's really going on. Why now? Why leave the cartel in the middle of a war? What does it mean for the price of petrol in your car, for Trump's midterms, and for the geopolitics of the Gulf? We get into the strange tacit alliance between the UAE and Israel, why Iran's real leverage isn't the Straits of Hormuz but the Emirates themselves, and how Saudi Arabia's old swing-producer power is being quietly dismantled. We also draw a much bigger lesson for small countries everywhere, including Ireland: the multilateral world that small states have hidden inside since the 1940s is breaking down, and the UAE's gamble is a glimpse of the hard choices that lie ahead. Oil, war, money, and the end of an era, all in one episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

People in this episode

Hosts: David McWilliams, John Davis

Topics covered

• geopolitics
• oil market
• UAE
• Iran
• OPEC
• small states
• multilateralism

Keywords

• UAE
• OPEC
• Iran
• oil war
• geopolitics
• petrol prices
• small countries
• multilateral world

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: OPEC

Places: UAE, Iran, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Ireland, Straits of Hormuz

More episodes of The David McWilliams Podcast

• Inside the World Cup's Narco State · June 11, 2026 · 41 min
• Why Social Democracies Win World Cups · June 9, 2026 · 41 min
• The Coming Water Crisis · June 4, 2026 · 29 min
• Why Trump Is About to Come for Ireland · June 2, 2026 · 41 min
• How Trump Could Kill the Dollar · May 28, 2026 · 48 min
• Why Nobody's Having Babies Anymore · May 26, 2026 · 51 min