As Gulf state leaders gathered in a Riyadh hotel this week to discuss the escalating Middle East war, strikes from Tehran erupted outside. Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister said Iran is sending a clear message.
“The attack was timed to coincide with this meeting,” Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud told NBC News. “To intimidate those who are. To send home the message that Iran will not stand still.”
As the war drags into its third week, Persian Gulf states increasingly bombarded by retaliatory strikes from a defiant Iran, the US and Israel are caught in the middle of a war initiated by President Donald Trump, who has offered shifting rationales and a shifting timeline. This is forcing the Gulf states into a tough decision: whether to join the fight.
Bin Farhan Al Saud, who met with representatives of Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Pakistan, Qatar, Azerbaijan, Syria, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, said trust between Iran and its neighbors had broken down and the prospect of neighboring countries entering the war should not be undermined.
“I think it’s important for Iranians to understand the kingdom, but its partners beyond the attack, have significant capabilities and capabilities that they can bring to bear if they choose to do so,” he said.
Israel launched a wide-ranging strike on South Pars, Iran’s world’s largest gas field, triggering retaliation from Tehran against key energy sites across the Gulf Arab states. Melting fireballs and belching smoke across the Middle East early Thursday signaled a dramatic escalation in the Iran war — and its threat to the global economy.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote in a post on X that the response to Israel’s attack on its infrastructure “has used part of our power.”
“The only reason for restraint is respect for the requested de-escalation. Zero restraint if our infrastructure is hit again. Any end to this war must address the damage to our civilian sites,” he said.
A continuation of Iran’s escalation will “first and foremost have dire consequences for the security of the region and will be very costly, casting a shadow over relations with countries and peoples in the region who will not stand idly by in the face of threats to their capabilities,” the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs X posted on Thursday.
Countries across the Gulf are eager to see an end to the conflict, while some want the U.S. to find an off-ramp as soon as possible, while others are more concerned about the U.S. leaving the Iranian regime intact, but retaliating, a U.S. official said.
Ambassadors from all six Gulf Cooperation Council countries — Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman — met with members of the House Foreign Affairs and Armed Services Committees and senators on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in closed session on Wednesday, where they urged an urgent discussion of the arms sale. told NBC News.
This was a significant change from the pre-war negotiations. For example, the Omanis were confident that the US and Iran could reach an agreement and initially tried to act as mediators in the negotiations.
“They’re scared and they’re looking for how they can protect their population,” said a third congressional aide.
A senior Gulf official told NBC News that Iran’s retaliation against the energy and civilian sectors is a big mistake, and the economy and tourism to the region is only growing.
“The mood has turned to anger,” the officer said. The official said the Gulf countries did not want to be drawn into the conflict and would not be allowed airspace to attack Iran. “Everybody is interpreting it differently than before. They made enemies out of their neighbors.”
A second senior Gulf official said Oman has made clear it does not want a wider war and has actively called for a cease-fire and de-escalation as the Gulf states, increasingly feeling the impact of the conflict, say.
“We have not decided on war, but we are facing the consequences,” the officer said. “We just want it to end.”
