As Gulf leaders gathered at a Riyadh hotel this week to discuss the growing Middle East war, Tehran’s attack exploded outside. Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister said Iran was sending a clear message.
“The attack was carried out in conjunction with this meeting,” Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud told NBC News. “To intimidate the people who were there. To send a message back home that Iran will not stop.”
As the war enters its third week, Persian Gulf states are facing retaliatory attacks from a defiant Iran. Caught in the middle of a war started by the United States and Israel, President Donald Trump is offering a changed rationale and a revised timeline. Gulf states face tough decisions about whether to join the fight.
Speaking in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday with representatives of Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Pakistan, Qatar, Azerbaijan, Syria, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, the Saudi foreign minister said that trust between Iran and its neighbors had been shattered and that the possibility of them going to war should not be ruled out.
“I think it’s important for Iranians to understand that not only Saudi Arabia, but also our partner countries and other countries that have been attacked, have very important capabilities and potential that they can realize if they choose.”
Israel has launched a wide-ranging attack on South Pars, Iran’s largest gas field, triggering Tehran’s retaliation against the Gulf Arab state’s key energy facilities. A molten fireball and plume of smoke erupted over the Middle East early Thursday, marking a dramatic escalation in the Iran war and a threat to the global economy.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a post on X that Israel’s response to infrastructure attacks “used part of our strength.”
“The only reason for restraint was to respect the requested de-escalation. There is zero restraint if our infrastructure is attacked again. To end this war, the damage to civilian facilities must be addressed,” he said.
Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote in a post on X that Iran’s continued escalation “will have dire consequences and high costs first and foremost for Iran and regional security, and will cast a shadow on relations with countries and peoples in the region who will not sit idly by in the face of threats to their capabilities.”
While Gulf states are anxious for an end to the conflict, one U.S. official said some want the U.S. to find a way out as soon as possible, while others fear the U.S. will leave the Iranian regime not only intact but also vengeful.
Ambassadors from all six Gulf Cooperation Council countries — Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman — met privately Wednesday with members of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs and Military Affairs Committee and senators on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to push for faster arms sales and discuss escalating the conflict, two congressional aides with knowledge of the talks told NBC News.
It was a marked change from prewar talks. For example, the Omanis were so confident that the United States and Iran could reach an agreement that they initially tried to act as a mediator.
“They’re panicking and trying to figure out how to protect the public,” a Congress aide said.
A senior Gulf state official told NBC News that Iran’s retaliation against the energy and private sectors is a big mistake, and the economic and tourism damage to the region will only increase.
“The atmosphere turned completely angry,” the official said. The official said Gulf states do not want to get into a war and have no intention of allowing airspace to attack Iran. “Everyone has a different interpretation than before. We’ve made our neighbors our enemies.”
Another Gulf official said that while the Gulf states are increasingly feeling the effects of the war, Oman has made clear that it does not want the conflict to escalate, actively calling for a ceasefire and stressing de-escalation.
“We did not decide on war, but we are dealing with the consequences,” the official said. “We want it to end.”
