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VEON Founder and Chairman Augie Fabela told said on Saturday that the United Arab Emirates emerged from the opening weeks of Iran’s missile and drone campaign as a regional leader, citing what he described as a prepared defense, a business-first government posture during the crisis, and a clean break from OPEC.

He made the comments on “America Right Now,” promoting his new book, “Tenacity: The UAE’s Finest Hour,” which documents the first 31 days of the conflict.

The conflict erupted in late February when a joint U.S.-Israeli strike on Iran prompted Tehran to fire on U.S. partners across the Gulf, including the UAE.

By early April, the UAE Defense Ministry said its air defenses had engaged 475 ballistic missiles, 23 cruise missiles, and 2,085 drones since the campaign began.

Fabela, who stayed in Dubai through the fighting, said what he watched was not improvisation.

“They were prepared, they executed, they made decisions quickly, and they are absolutely focused on the future,” he said. The title of his book was deliberate, he added: “Tenacity captures those three elements of past, present, and future.”

He credited Emirati leaders with treating the private sector as a partner from the opening days of the conflict.

“Three days into the crisis, the first thing that was done by the leadership is they called in the business leaders and asked what can we do to help you,” Fabela said.

He described officials moving with what he called the speed of necessity. “They know how to make decisions at, what I call, at the speed of need,” he said.

VEON, which Fabela described as the largest U.S. NASDAQ-listed global digital operator headquartered in the UAE, relocated its headquarters to Dubai a little over a year ago.

Asked about the UAE’s strategic posture, Fabela pointed to its April 28 announcement that it would withdraw from OPEC and OPEC+ effective May 1, ending nearly 60 years of membership.

UAE Energy Minister Suhail Al Mazrouei told CNBC that the exit was timed to minimize market disruption and give Abu Dhabi room to push toward a 5 million-barrel-per-day production target by 2027.

Fabela declined to predict the politics but said Emirati leadership would keep driving regional economic growth, casting the country as “not just the hub, but really a platform for building the future of the economy, not just in that region, but as a platform for a much wider global state.”

He said he had “a lot of optimism that they will lead the UAE and the region into a great future going forward.”

For Americans, he said, the practical takeaway was access. “They’re a great ally for us,” Fabela said, predicting that “you’re going to see a lot more businesses coming.”