The Story Behind The Port Deal I have been surprised that with all the controversey about the Dubai Port deal no one has brought this up. The sale of Eastern US Ports to The United Arab Emirates is affected by Iran policy. If we wanted to bomb nuclear facilities or nuclear weapons in Iran, the United Arab Emirates would have an air base that we would need to be able to reach Iran. If we don't have the use of that air base, Iran would ahve very little stopping it from making nuclear weapons. For this reason we can not afford to drastically hurt our relationship with the UAE.  ¶ 7:02 AM