Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency has claimed that Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Jordan provided logistical support for recent US military strikes on Iranian infrastructure, warning that such involvement could expose their own infrastructure to retaliation.
Citing what it described as open-source intelligence (OSINT) data, aviation tracking information and military sources, Fars reported that US combat aircraft received logistical support from military bases in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Jordan during strikes carried out over the past 48 hours, News.Az reports.
According to the report, air navigation data indicated that two UAE-operated Multi Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) aircraft took part in operations linked to US strikes on Iranian ports early on Wednesday. Fars said the UAE had neither confirmed nor denied the allegation.
The agency also cited flight-tracking service Flightradar as indicating that aerial refuelling aircraft operated from Qatar’s Al Udeid Air Base during US strikes on Iran early on Thursday.
Fars further claimed that US military bases in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Jordan were used to support the operations.
According to the report, the United States launched strikes early on Thursday against at least three sites linked to Iran’s railway network and oil industry in the country’s north-east and south. It also alleged that airport infrastructure in Chabahar and fishing vessels in Asaluyeh were targeted.
Abdolreza Seddiq, described by Fars as a security analyst, said the United States had crossed “a major red line” by targeting commercial infrastructure connected to trade with China.
On Wednesday night, Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters warned that any location used to support what it described as US aggression against Iran’s sovereignty and territory would be regarded as a legitimate target for the Iranian armed forces.
The report said Iran had previously informed the leaders of the Persian Gulf states in writing that it would target the source of any attack launched against its territory.
Separately, Ebrahim Rezaei, spokesman for the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, said infrastructure related to maritime transport, railways, airports and the oil and gas sectors in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Jordan and Bahrain could become legitimate targets in response to the recent US strikes on Iranian infrastructure.
Neither the United States nor the governments of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Jordan, Kuwait or Bahrain had immediately commented on the allegations. The claims made by Fars could not be independently verified.