‘Nobody can stand alone’: Nato parliamentary chief urges deeper Middle East partnerships

The head of the Nato Parliamentary Assembly has called for deeper partnerships between the alliance and the Middle East to strengthen security and draw on lessons from the wars in Ukraine and Iran.

“We live in a world where nobody can stand alone, so we need to deepen the co-operation and partnerships with our friends,” said Marcos Perestrello, president of the assembly that brings together parliamentarians from Nato member states.

Speaking to The National in Abu Dhabi, Mr Perestrello said security in Europe and the Middle East were interconnected.

“When the Middle East enters turmoil, there are strong effects on Europe, and the opposite is also true. The crisis in Europe has impacts in the Middle East,” he said.

Mr Perestrello said his visit to Abu Dhabi was intended to assess the regional situation and the UAE's role in security. He described the UAE as a “prime example of reaction and resilience”, praising its ability to defend its territory and population against Iranian attacks.

At the peak of the war, Tehran retaliated against US-Israeli strikes by attacking its Gulf neighbours with ballistic missiles and drones. The UAE was the most heavily attacked country, facing more than 550 ballistic missiles and 2,265 drones, most of which were intercepted or destroyed before reaching their targets.

Lessons learnt

While the wars in Ukraine and Iran differ in nature, Mr Perestrello said the “belligerents were interconnected”, and the conflicts offered common lessons in defence and warfare.

Iranian-designed Shahed drones have been used widely by Russia in its war on Ukraine, and by the Iranians themselves against Gulf states.

Subsequently, Ukrainian specialists were deployed to the UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia in March to advise on countering drone attacks, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also offering to supply low-cost interceptor drones to help defend the region.

“Both Ukraine and the UAE are a field of lessons learnt on this kind of new conflict, with new instruments of war, that can and should be shared in a way that we can defend better next time,” said Mr Perestrello.

He said Ukraine and Gulf states “have a lot to learn from each other, and Nato itself, as a supporter, can also take some strong lessons.”

“We believe that deepening that co-operation is instrumental for reinforcing security both in this region and in the Euro-Atlantic,” he told The National.

Show caption: Attacks across the Arabian Gulf have forced Middle East coun…

Strengthening Gulf partnerships

Mr Perestrello suggested strengthening a partnership known as the Istanbul Co-operation Initiative as one way to deepen those ties.

Launched in 2004, the initiative provides a framework for Nato’s engagement with Gulf partners. Its participants are the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain.

“The Istanbul Co-operation Initiative is a very important base, but it needs to be developed, it needs to be implemented, and it needs to be reinforced,” Mr Perestrello told The National. “Maybe the Iran war, for unfortunate reasons, could become a strong incentive for that to happen,” he added.

Nato members and their Gulf partner states met on the sidelines of Nato's Ankara summit in July, which was heavily overshadowed by the regional conflict. The talks brought the launch of major projects on maritime security and counter-drone work to boost responses to threats faced by the Gulf.

Bolstering Nato’s defences

As the Iran war enters its ninth month with no immediate end in sight, its consequences extend far beyond the Middle East, with a global energy crisis adding to pressures on Europe. The region is also bearing the brunt of the Russia-Ukraine war, which is approaching its fifth year.

The fighting has increasingly pressed up against Nato’s borders, putting the alliance’s war-fighting readiness in question.

Mr Perestrello described Nato as “the strongest and most successful alliance in the history of mankind”.

“For almost 80 years, it has been able to assure peace and security in one of the historically most troubled regions in the world, which is Europe,” he told The National. “Now, the situation has changed a lot on the borders.”

Nato members have faced Russian drone incursions and hybrid attacks, adding urgency to the alliance’s efforts to strengthen its military readiness.

Allies agreed at their summit in The Hague to increase total defence-related spending to 5 per cent of GDP by 2035, a commitment reaffirmed at the Ankara summit in July 2026.

Mr Perestrello said countries were on track to meet the target if they maintained their commitment and pace of spending.

“In 2025, all the countries achieved the 2 per cent spending on defence. And all the countries are increasing their defence spending to a level that allows us to believe that, if we keep this commitment and rhythm, we will be able to reach 2035 with a very relevant commitment on defence spending,” he said.

“We are stronger than we have ever been before. And we are clear-eyed as we have never been before,” he added.