The UAE, which sees Iran as one of its main enemies, also shared the Trump team’s interest in finding ways to drive a wedge between Moscow and Tehran.”2 MBZ’s chief goal with respect to Donald Trump in 2016 is therefore to “establish[] an unofficial backchannel between Trump and Putin”—an ambition he ultimately achieves through a year’s worth of behind-the-scenes contacts, via several intermediaries, with the Trump campaign and the Trump transition team.
