FACTBOX-Key political risks to watch in the United Arab Emirates

The United Arab Emirates is




vulnerable to any fallout from tension over Iran's nuclear



programme, which has escalated after Tehran threatened to shut



the Strait of Hormuz and stop the flow of the bulk of the



region's oil.



Any move to obstruct Hormuz could spark a wider military



confrontation. The United States has said it would not tolerate



the strait being blocked.



On the domestic front, the UAE has escaped the upheaval that



has shaken the Arab world, but the case of five activists



convicted of insulting the country's rulers suggests the oil



producing state is not immune to calls for reform.



UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan pardoned



the five, a day after a state security court sentenced them to



prison terms ranging from two to three years.



The case had been seen as a gauge of how the oil-producing



Gulf Arab state, which allows no political parties, responds to



hints of dissent after uprisings toppled other Arab leaders.



The UAE has also shown little tolerance towards Islamists.



It stripped six nationals suspected of links to an Islamist



group of their citizenship late last year.



The UAE is among the world's top five oil exporters and its



small local population has one of world's highest per capita



income, estimated at $66,625 in 2011, according to the IMF.



The emirate of Dubai, which built itself into a finance and



trade hub only for its real estate bubble to burst in 2008-09,



faces possible debt refinance and investor flight risks.



Below are some of the risks facing the UAE: