Why Are Iranian Leaders Sending Mixed Messages About Gulf Attack? | US-Israel war over Iran news

Iranian President Masoud Pezheshkian has apologized to neighboring countries hit by Tehran’s retaliatory attacks since the United States and Israel launched military strikes against the country.

But Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Saturday expressed its disapproval of the president’s remarks, warning neighboring countries that Tehran would continue to attack if the US and Israel used their territory to attack Iran.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran was not going to stop the attacks, while Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf emphasized Tehran’s right to self-defense.

Iran’s leadership has been sending mixed messages about its attacks on neighboring countries in the Gulf region. On Saturday and Sunday, more Iranian attacks were reported. On Saturday, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates said they had been attacked.

So why is Iran sending mixed messages to the Gulf countries? How should its statements be interpreted?

What did Iranian leaders say?

In a recorded message on Saturday, Pezheshkian pledged to stop attacks against neighboring countries unless attacks on Iran originate from its soil.

“I personally apologize to the neighboring countries attacked by Iran. Our commanders, leaders and loved ones lost their lives due to the brutal attack and our armed forces are heroes who gave their lives to protect our territorial integrity,” he said, without specifying which countries he was referring to.

“We had no intention of violating the neighboring countries’ (region) as I have said many times, they are our brothers. We stand with those we love in this region,” he said.

After Pezheshkian’s apology, the IRGC weighed in and said Iran’s armed forces “once again respect the interests and national sovereignty of neighboring countries and have not committed any aggression against them up to this point.”

“However, if past hostile actions continue, all military bases and interests of criminal America and the fake Zionist regime on land, at sea and in the air throughout the region will be considered primary targets and will be subject to powerful and crushing attacks by the powerful armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the IRGC statement added.

Pezheshkian later clarified at X that Iran had not attacked any of its neighbors but “targeted US military bases, facilities and installations in the region.”

Late Saturday, Ali Larijani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, echoed the IRGC’s message and said: “When the enemy attacks us from bases in the region, we will respond — and we will continue to respond.”

“This is our right and standing policy. Regional countries must prevent the US from using their territory against Iran, or we will have no choice but to do it ourselves,” he said.

As attacks continued across the Gulf on Sunday morning, Pezeshkian said his remarks on Saturday were misinterpreted by “an enemy trying to sow division with its neighbours”.

According to Iranian state media, the president reiterated that Iran wants good relations with “brotherly neighboring countries” but is forced to respond to attacks from other countries’ territories.

However, he emphasized that this response does not mean that there is a dispute with those countries.

“Iran stands strong against those who attack it and will respond with force,” he said.

Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement on Sunday stressing that “Iran’s defensive operations against US military bases and installations in the region should in no way be interpreted as hatred or hostility towards countries in the region.”

Khalid al-Jaber, executive director of the Middle East Council on Global Affairs in Doha, says various Iranian officials have sent several “contradictory” messages to countries in the region.

“We don’t know what is true. In a war, we don’t think now that Iran will stop attacking some infrastructure in the Gulf,” al-Jaber told Al Jazeera, referring to the attack on a water desalination plant in Bahrain.

“After the attack on Ayatollah Khamenei, it seems that there is no organization or person or leadership that we can talk to to understand what his point of view is, what his point of view is, or we can come to an agreement,” he said.

How should Iran’s messages be interpreted?

According to Al Jazeera’s Resul Serdar, Pezeshkian’s apology was overruled by the Revolutionary Guard.

“Political figures in Iran are responsible for running state affairs and non-strategic affairs. But when it comes to strategic affairs such as the country’s foreign and security policies, politicians, including the president, cannot say, he is, according to the constitution, in charge number 2. This is a very well-known fact in Iran,” Serdar said.

He said the center of power would be in the Supreme Leader’s office and with the IRGC in peacetime as well.

On Sunday, Serdar said Iranians were misunderstanding Pezheshkian’s remarks, saying he meant Azerbaijan and Turkey, not the Gulf countries.

“There are tens of thousands of Azeri (people) living in Azerbaijan because of ethnic tensions, so an attack on them could backfire, and Turkey is a NATO member,” he said.

Azerbaijan apologized to Iran after Thursday’s drone strike targeting its autonomous Nakhchivan exclave. However, Tehran insisted it was not behind the attack.

On Wednesday, Turkey’s Ministry of National Defense said NATO had intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile fired from Iran toward Turkish airspace. But Iran’s armed forces have denied firing any missile towards Turkish territory.

Ali Vaz, director of the Iran Project at the International Crisis Group, told Al Jazeera that Pezeshkian’s occasional off-key remarks underscored his limited political instincts and experience navigating high-stakes moments.

“But in wartime, the rhetorical missteps of civil authorities are ultimately beside the point: the only voice that really matters is the IRGC,” he added.

How has the Gulf responded?

After apologies and threats from Iranian officials, strikes on countries across the Gulf have continued.

On Sunday, an Iranian drone strike caused material damage to a water desalination plant in Bahrain, its interior ministry said.

It set a “precedent” a day after Araghchi said the US had attacked a desalination plant on Queshm Island in southern Iran. There was no immediate response from Iran following Bahrain’s statement. Most of the Gulf countries rely heavily on desalinated water for the consumption of their residents.

On Saturday, Qatar, Kuwait and the UAE reported incoming missiles and drones in their territories. On Sunday, Kuwait said two interior ministry personnel were killed on duty and that attacks on its international airport and social security office were responsible for the fire.

Saudi Arabia said on Sunday it had foiled an attack on Riyadh’s diplomatic quarter and shot down several drones in its airspace.

On Sunday, the Gulf Cooperation Council said Iran’s continued attacks against Bahrain and Kuwait were “acts of aggression” that threatened regional security and stability. The bloc includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

So far, countries in the Gulf have intercepted and destroyed most of Iran’s missiles and drones but have yet to launch strikes against Tehran.

Vaz told Al Jazeera that the Gulf countries could certainly retaliate but that would lead to an even more aggressive Iranian retaliation.

“Siding with Israel to bomb another Muslim country would have political consequences for the Gulf countries,” he said.

How has the US responded?

Following the Iranian president’s apology on Saturday, US President Donald Trump said in a post on his social media platform Truth Social that Iran had surrendered to its neighbour.

“Iran is no longer the ‘bully of the Middle East’, but rather, the ‘loser of the Middle East’ and will be for decades until they capitulate or more likely collapse completely!” Trump posted.

“Joining Israel to bomb another Muslim country would have political consequences for the Gulf countries,” he said.

In an interview with Al Jazeera on Saturday, Hamidreza Gholamzadeh, director of Iranian think tank Diplo House, said Trump’s interpretation of Pezeshkian’s comments as “surrender” was “absolutely false”.

Gholamzadeh said Iran was asking its neighbors to “stop cooperating with the United States or the Israeli regime and not allow them to use their land or their airspace to attack Iran,” describing the request as “very normal” and “legitimate.”