When the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi travels to Beijing, he does not travel light. Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan arrived in the Chinese capital on April 12 accompanied by a delegation that reads less like a diplomatic retinue and more like a statement of intent: Khaldoon Al Mubarak, the man who runs both ADNOC and Mubadala; Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, the UAE’s energy policy architect; and Mohamed Alsuwaidi, the finance minister.

There is a particular kind of strategic failure that is almost admirable in its consistency. Iran, in the weeks since February 28, has managed to accomplish what years of American diplomacy could not: convincing a fractured, mutually suspicious Middle East that it has a common enemy. It has done so not through miscalculation at the margins, but through a sustained, multi-front campaign that has struck neutrals, allies, and American assets with equal indifference.