The United Arab Emirates' decision to quit OPEC and OPEC+ has brought years of tensions with Saudi Arabia out into the open, marking a strategic break with Saudi-led oil governance in a rebalancing of power shaped by the Iran war.

Political analysts and regional experts said the move to leave the groups of oil-producing nations, announced on Tuesday, was more than just a dispute over OPEC oil output quotas that Gulf sources say Abu Dhabi sees as tilted against the UAE.

It is also part of a deeper rupture in ties in which Abu Dhabi is prioritising autonomy over deference to Riyadh, they said, and ?using oil as a tool to express its autonomy and show it will not be dictated to.