Like other oil-producing states in the region, Abu Dhabi has been dragged into a conflict it had tried to avoid and has every interest in ending -- though not at any price, analysts say.

As the United States says it is in talks with Iran, the Emirati ambassador to Washington made his country's position clear this week.

"A simple ceasefire isn't enough," wrote Yousef Al Otaiba in a Wall Street Journal op-ed.

"We need a conclusive outcome that addresses Iran's full range of threats: nuclear capabilities, missiles, drones, terror proxies and blockades of international sea lanes."

He also said the UAE was ready to join an international initiative to reopen the key Strait of Hormuz, through which around a fifth of the world's crude oil and liquefied natural gas passes in peacetime.

This tougher line sharply contrasts with the more measured tones of most Gulf diplomats, who have so far limited themselves to calling for de-escalation.

The UAE is a close ally of the United States and only one of two Gulf states to normalise relations with Israel in 2020, the other being Bahrain.

It has been the main target of missiles and drones fired across the Gulf by Iran since February 28, with eight civilians killed since the war began.

- Complex relationship -

"Iran is targeting the UAE more than any other country, so this feels very personal and very dangerous for them," said Anna Jacobs, non-resident fellow at the Washington-based Arab Gulf States Institute.

"The UAE wants to see this war end but they also want to make sure it's done correctly."

Beyond the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which is disrupting hydrocarbon exports and supply chains across the region, Iran's attacks have dented the UAE's image and economy.

That economy relies more heavily on business, trade and tourism than those of its Gulf neighbours.

"Now that the damage has been done, they don't want the war to fizzle out ... and then find themselves a few months from now once again facing blackmail, pressure, and a continued simmering confrontation with Iran," said Karim Bitar, associate research fellow at the Institute for International and Strategic Affairs in Paris.

The UAE has long had complex relations with Iran, marked by a territorial dispute over strategic islands at the mouth of the Hormuz strait -- Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb and Abu Musa -- and significant economic links.

Even before the conflict, the UAE was already seen as a regional hardliner, pushing cooperation with Israel and intervening in countries like Yemen and Sudan -- sometimes to the irritation of powerful neighbour Saudi Arabia, Bitar added.

- Rivalry sidelined -

There was "a sort of divide between Israel and the UAE on the one hand, driven by a logic of reshaping the entire Middle East ... and on the other hand, a rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Turkey, powers more attached to stability and the status quo," Bitar said.

He said the war has merely muted the rivalry between Abu Dhabi and Riyadh.

Last week, the UAE and Bahrain were the only Gulf states to sign a statement by some 30 countries declaring themselves ready to contribute to efforts to secure the Strait of Hormuz.

According to Andreas Krieg of King's College London, however, the Emirates does not have the military weight to decisively influence the conflict.

"It is a message of defiance that is also supposed to reassure locals that the government is not just standing by idly as they are being bombed," he said.

This rhetoric also appeals to hardline Republicans in the United States -- at the risk of "further antagonising the Iranians", he warned.

But in the long run, the UAE has little choice but to re-engage with Tehran, said Anna Jacobs of the AGSI.

Even weakened, Iran has shown just how easily it can threaten regional security, maritime safety and the global economy.

"Abu Dhabi probably knows isolating Iran in the long term is not the right strategy," she said.