Gulf states are on the front line of the Middle East’s newest war, and they are not happy.
Since the war began on Saturday, “Iran has primarily used ballistic missiles to attack Israel, but has relied on drones to attack Gulf countries”, according to the think tanks Institute for the Study of War and the American Enterprise Institute’s Critical Threats Project.
Israel’s army said late Sunday that it was targeted by more than 50 drones “launched from Iran”. The Gulf countries, meanwhile, were on the receiving end of more than 1,000 -- mainly Shahed-136s.
The United Arab Emirates says it has been targeted by more than 800 drones and nearly 200 missiles since the war erupted.
In Saudi Arabia, two drones hit the US embassy on Tuesday, while the massive Ras Tanura refinery on its Gulf coast went into partial shutdown after a strike.
Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Jordan were also targeted.
In targeting the Gulf states, Iran 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.
Analysts say 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.
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.”
