said<\/a> the United States has also been pressing Gulf governments to join the US-Israel campaign.<\/p>\nAccording to three of those sources, President Donald Trump is seeking to demonstrate regional backing in order to bolster both the campaign\u2019s international legitimacy and domestic support.<\/p>\n
Abdulaziz Sager, chairman of the Saudi-based Gulf Research Center and a figure closely aligned with government thinking, said there is now a widespread perception across the Gulf that Iran has crossed every red line with regard to its neighbors.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the outset, we defended them and opposed the war. But the moment they began launching attacks against us, they became an enemy. There is no other way to describe them,\u201d Sager said.<\/p>\n
Tehran has already demonstrated its reach, disrupting maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz while launching missile and drone strikes on airports, ports, oil installations and commercial hubs across the six Gulf states.<\/p>\n
The waterway functions as a critical artery for the global economy, carrying roughly one-fifth of the world\u2019s oil and underpinning Gulf economic stability.<\/p>\n
The attacks have reinforced fears in the region that leaving Iran with significant strike capabilities or weapons production capacity would embolden it to hold the Gulf\u2019s energy lifeline hostage whenever tensions escalate.<\/p>\n
As the war enters its third week, one Gulf source described the prevailing mood among regional leaders as unequivocal: Trump must comprehensively degrade Iran\u2019s military capabilities.<\/p>\n
The alternative, the source said, is to live under a constant threat, arguing that unless seriously weakened, Iran will continue to \u201chold the region hostage.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Gulf leaders, the report added, inaction now carries greater risks than escalation.<\/p>\n
The impact of Iran\u2019s attacks this month has gone far beyond material damage. Beyond disrupting oil flows, they have undermined the carefully cultivated image of stability and security that Gulf states rely on to expand trade, attract tourism and reduce dependence on fossil fuel exports.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the Americans withdraw before the job is done, we will be left to face Iran alone,\u201d Sager said.<\/p>\n
Responding to questions about these concerns, the White House said the United States had \u201ccrushed (Iran\u2019s) ability to launch these weapons or produce more,\u201d adding that Trump remains in close contact with partners in the Middle East.<\/p>\n
Among Gulf states, only the United Arab Emirates has formally responded to US calls. The country said it does not wish to be drawn into conflict or escalation, but reaffirmed its right to take \u201call necessary measures\u201d to safeguard its sovereignty, security and territorial integrity and to protect its citizens.<\/p>\n
Regional sources said unilateral military intervention is not under consideration, as only collective action could shield individual states from retaliation.<\/p>\n
Even so, consensus remains elusive. The six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council \u2014 Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman and the UAE \u2014 have held only a single Zoom meeting, and no Arab summit has been convened to coordinate action.<\/p>\n
Gulf leaders remain deeply concerned about triggering a broader, uncontrollable conflict.<\/p>\n
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said last week that Gulf partners had \u201cleaned forward\u201d and were ready to \u201cgo on offense,\u201d adding that they are already working with Washington on integrated air defense, though he did not specify what further steps they might take.<\/p>\n
A senior UAE official said the country prefers restraint after Iran claimed that the US military used the UAE to launch strikes on Kharg Island, Iran\u2019s main oil export terminal.<\/p>\n
Sager said Saudi Arabia, Iran\u2019s principal regional rival, could be forced to retaliate if Tehran crosses further red lines \u2014 particularly by striking key oil infrastructure or desalination plants, or causing heavy casualties.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn that case, Saudi Arabia would have no choice but to intervene,\u201d he said, while adding that Riyadh would likely seek to calibrate any response to avoid further escalation.<\/p>\n
Fawaz Gerges of the London School of Economics said Gulf states face a fundamental strategic dilemma: balancing the immediate threat posed by Iranian attacks against the far greater risk of being drawn into a US- and Israel-led war.<\/p>\n
Joining the campaign would add little to Washington\u2019s military advantage, he said, but would sharply increase exposure to Iranian retaliation.<\/p>\n
The result is a posture of calculated restraint: defending sovereignty and signaling red lines without entering a war they neither initiated nor control.<\/p>\n
For now, Iran retains a decisive lever. It is effectively determining which ships can pass through the Strait of Hormuz \u2014 a situation no state in the region considers acceptable.<\/p>\n
Bernard Haykel of Princeton University said the Gulf now faces a fundamentally different kind of threat after Iran demonstrated it could shut the strait.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf this danger is not addressed, it will have long-term consequences,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Haykel added that while the global economy depends heavily on Gulf oil and gas, most of those exports flow eastward to China, Japan and other Asian economies \u2014 implying they, too, should shoulder responsibility.<\/p>\n
\u201cChina helped secure sea lanes off Somalia. It may be willing to intervene here as well,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gulf states have stopped short of calling for a full-scale US war with Iran, but several are now…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32806,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[38,2061,7726,34,14952,14953,143,1137,7395,14954,14955,39,101,9344,7776,51],"class_list":{"0":"post-32805","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-persian-gulf","8":"tag-donald-trump","9":"tag-fars-news-agency","10":"tag-global-energy-supply","11":"tag-iran","12":"tag-iran-defense-council","13":"tag-lng-shipments","14":"tag-maritime-security","15":"tag-middle-east-tensions","16":"tag-naval-mines","17":"tag-newsmax","18":"tag-oil-transport","19":"tag-persian-gulf","20":"tag-strait-of-hormuz","21":"tag-the-wall-street-journal","22":"tag-the-washington-post","23":"tag-united-states"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116280247179433995","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32805"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32805\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}