Iran’s attacks on the Gulf countries are increasingly bringing unity among the countries, as well as a tiptoe toward possible action against Iran.
Iran has launched thousands of drones and missiles at the Gulf states. In addition, Iran has sought to escalate incrementally against them over the course of the three-week war. For instance, after an Israeli strike on an Iranian gas field, Iran then attacked Qatar's Ras Laffan industrial facility.
The Gulf countries are now seeking unity in talks about what to do next. Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan spoke out forcefully on Thursday. He said that Riyadh’s restraint could end. Saudi Arabia’s patience is “not unlimited,” Arab News reported.
Farhan said, “The Kingdom and its partners possess significant capabilities, and the patience we have shown is not unlimited. It could be a day, two days, or a week — I will not say.”
Prince Faisal said Saudi Arabia “reserves the right to take military action if deemed necessary.” Saudi Arabia had reconciled with Iran in 2023 after years of tensions. Now the Kingdom is outraged. This is “almost nothing” left to salvage the relationship, Farhan said.
Faisal J. Abbas, the Editor-in-Chief of Arab News, wrote that Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian has spoken in the past about apologizing for Iran’s attacks on the Gulf.
However, Abbas says that Iran needs to show action, not words. The Gulf wants to see Iran change course.
“Many observers, yours truly included, breathed a sigh of relief,” after Pezeshkian’s apology earlier in the war. “The indiscriminate attacks targeting civilians in Gulf countries, particularly in Saudi Arabia (which had signed a nonaggression treaty with Tehran in Beijing in 2023), were assumed to have been a result of strategic miscalculation and were given the benefit of the doubt. This is despite the repeated pattern, and the clear indication that Tehran sought to target oil facilities to make the war as expensive as possible for America and the world at large,” Abbas writes.
Riyadh is seeking a worldwide consensus on its next moves. Luigi Di Maio, the EU’s special representative for the Gulf, condemned Iran’s attacks.
He also said that Europe stands “at their disposal” in providing support to the Gulf countries.
In an interview with Arab News in Riyadh following the extraordinary EU-GCC ministerial meeting of March 5, Di Maio stressed that the bloc “strongly condemned the unjustifiable Iranian attacks against the GCC countries” and fully backed the Kingdom’s right to self-defense."
Across the Gulf, the solidarity is becoming more crystallized. In the UAE, residents are expressing loyalty and support for the country, Al-Ain media notes.
Al-Ain adds, “in a unified regional stance reflecting growing concern about the repercussions of the escalation, Arab and Islamic countries sent firm messages to Iran, condemning its attacks and emphasizing that the security of the region and the sovereignty of its countries represent red lines that cannot be crossed.”
The report says that “this came during a consultative ministerial meeting that included the foreign ministers of a number of Arab and Islamic countries, in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, to discuss the repercussions of these attacks and their impact on the security and stability of the region. The meeting was attended by the foreign ministers of the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia.”
The countries have moved toward explicit condemnation of Tehran. These words are important because symbolism means a lot for the Gulf countries.
Media across Gulf united in message of condemnation for Iran
Media across the Gulf is reporting the same thing, whether Arab News in Saudi Arabia, Al-Ain in the UAE, or other reports.
Gulf News in Dubai, for instance, says “Arab and Islamic foreign ministers issued a unified condemnation of Iran’s missile and drone attacks across the Gulf on Thursday, warning that the strikes on civilian infrastructure “cannot be justified under any circumstances” and urging Tehran to immediately halt its escalation.”
It adds, “meeting in Riyadh amid intensifying regional tensions, ministers from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Turkey, Pakistan, Azerbaijan and Lebanon said continued violations of sovereignty would carry consequences and reaffirmed the right of states to defend themselves under Article 51 of the UN Charter.”
While the Qataris have gotten the fire at Ras Laffan under control, there are other developments. The UAE continues to activate air defences against missiles and drones.
Qatar has also expelled Iranian officials.
In Kuwait, the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation “announced that the fires that broke out in two operating units at the Mina Al Ahmadi and Abdullah Port refineries as a result of them being subjected to two attacks by unmanned aerial vehicles have been extinguished,” Gulf News noted.
In addition, “Saudi Arabia has not ruled out military action in response to repeated missile and drone attacks from Iran, Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said on Thursday.” Qatar, which has tended to be closer to Iran in foreign policy over the last decade, has said that Iran has crossed all red lines.