Gulf States Fear Escalation as US Iran Strikes Rattle Region

Source: Bloomberg

June 22, 2025 at 6:02 AM EDT


Iran’s Arab neighbors urged restraint and warned of potentially devastating implications for the region after US strikes on Tehran’s nuclear program raised the prospects for all-out war in the Middle East.

In statements on Sunday, Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry condemned the violation of Iran’s sovereignty, Qatar warned it would have “disastrous consequences,” and Oman called it “illegal.”

Those countries, and the United Arab Emirates, have spent months trying to use their geopolitical and economic heft to bolster nuclear talks between the Americans and Iran. They spent the week since Israel launched an unprecedented attack on Tehran trying to keep the US from directly intervening. Saturday night’s bombings have shown just how much they are hostage to forces completely outside their control.

“I don’t think the Arab Gulf states have much control over the course of events at this stage,” said Hasan Alhasan, Senior Fellow for Middle East Policy at IISS in Manama, Bahrain. “There is no guarantee that any of the warring parties, Iran, Israel or the US, will take Gulf interests into account.”

Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-06-22/gulf-states-fear-escalation-as-us-iran-strikes-rattle-region