Gulf states have found themselves on the front line of the Middle East’s newest war, and they are angry.
Iran has retaliated to US-Israeli air strikes by firing hundreds of missiles and drones at its Arab neighbours – targeting American military bases on their soil, but also civilian and energy infrastructure.
In doing so it is targeting the Gulf’s image as a safe, prosperous hub for travel, tourism and finance, and disrupting the oil and gas industry at its core.
This is a war that the Arab governments didn’t want and tried to prevent. The question is whether they’ll be drawn into it by what they’ve called the “treacherous” Iranian attacks.
“All the red lines have already been crossed,” said Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesman Majed al Ansari at a press briefing on Tuesday.
“The attacks on our sovereignty are constant,” he told journalists.
“There are attacks on infrastructure. There are attacks on our residential areas. And the effects of these attacks are very clear. When it comes to possible retaliation, all options are with our leadership. But we have to make it very clear that attacks like these will not go unanswered and cannot go unanswered.”
Mostly the Iranian missiles are being intercepted across the region, but falling debris has started fires and killed people. Drones that are more easily able to get through air defences often cause minimal damage but still sow chaos that disrupts trade and travel.
That seems to be the Iranian strategy – to raise the stakes for its Arab neighbours in hopes they will increase pressure on the US to end the war.
Iran is believed to have fired almost as many drones and missiles at the United Arab Emirates, the gulf’s dominant trade and tourism hub, as Israel, according to the Financial Times.
Iran can weaponise the region’s vital oil and gas industry – disrupting that could send shockwaves through the global economy.
That also means Tehran’s strategy could backfire. Iran risks pushing Gulf states closer to Washington, even having them join the war effort in some form.
So far, they’ve refused to let the US use their skies and territory to launch strikes on Iran.
That could change. At some point, they might decide to participate in military operations.
They’re not there yet – for now the Arabs are focused on defence. But much depends on how long the war goes on.
Some would be reluctant to appear to be taking Israel’s side in the conflict.
Israel’s deadly and destructive offensive in Gaza in response to the Hamas attacks of October 2023, as well as its military interventions in countries such as Lebanon and Syria, has increasingly strained relations with the Arabs. They were furious when it bombed Qatar last year in an attempt to assassinate Hamas leadership.
What’s clear is that Iran’s attacks have strengthened unity among the Gulf states
The six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council – Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Oman – met in emergency session on Sunday to express solidarity and pledge to “take all necessary measures to defend their security and stability and to protect their territories, citizens, and residents, including the option of responding to the aggression.”
A senior diplomatic advisor to the Emirati president, Anwar Gargash, has urged Iran to come to its senses.
“Your war is not with your neighbours,” he wrote in a post on X. “Return to your surroundings, and deal with your neighbours with reason and responsibility before the circle of isolation and escalation widens.”
