Senior UAE official: Iran’s attacks will push Gulf states closer to Israel

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/senior-uae-official-irans-attacks-will-push-gulf-states-closer-to-israel/

17 Comments

  1. Cannot-Forget on

    A senior UAE official, Anwar Gargash, said Iran’s attacks on Gulf countries are actually pushing them closer to both Israel and the United States.

    He argued that Gulf states see Iran as the real threat, not Israel, which is strengthening existing ties and opening the door for new cooperation, especially in defense and technology.

    Overall, he said Iran’s strategy is backfiring by increasing Israel’s role in the region and reinforcing US influence rather than weakening it.

  2. That’s an empty threat. Iran is already been attacked, bombed in thousand targets. What’s the next threat the Arab Gulf states will abandon the Palestinians?

  3. DaySecure7642 on

    Attacking nations not involved as a leverage is not normal nation behavior but terrorist tactic. Can you imagine what the current Iranian regime will do with nukes? Probably will fire some to Israel, and trigger Israel to fire back. It will be a regional nuclear war for religious purposes. The middle east will have to deal with the aftermath like radiation dust for thousands of years. Iran having nukes is far more dangerous than even North Korea.

  4. True if a bit obvious.

    It’s not like Iran is picking targets as part of a well calculated strategy. Their counter productive target choices are mainly a result of that all “mosaic defense” concept of theirs.
    Making units autonomous in a crisis means they’ll still be able to operate if the leadership is decapitated, but by definition it won’t be well coordinated – which is one of the many reasons why countries don’t usually do that.

  5. Few-Coat1297 on

    This has already happened though, and futher isolation of Iran was always going to cause this. For UAE, this now means getting their own permanent missile shield along with everyone else in the region and taking a semi permanent hit to tourism in the region. Major sporting events will think twice now before signing up. There are lots of downstream consequences to this war which are all negative for the region and for the world. This war only benefits Israel.

  6. The missing piece here is that it’s the leaders of Gulf countries saying this. They are not the most stable of governments. The pressure will come from below if Muslim populations start to see this as a religious war and question why their leaders are siding with Israel and getting their country bombed. This is a perfect opportunity for fiery and charismatic clerics to enter the fray. This will become more likely the longer the war lasts and Gulf leaders are probably looking over their shoulders.

  7. Obligation-Gloomy on

    Why does everyone keep forgetting about the greater isreal project that is the end Game and I am sick and tired of the fact that everyone is just ignoring that , Zionism is a political religious movement with very defined goals.

    The GCC made their bed with the Americans / Israelis a long ago it is just a bluff now.

    The way I see it there are 3 options for the GCC here either join the war (economically not very appeasing) or remove the US bases (risky) or just wait and do nothing or try exerting pressure on the Americans (viability isn’t even there with tump and the evangelicals in power)

  8. Smh..

    UAE should remove all the American bases and go purely neutral like Switzerland otherwise they’ll end up like Kuwait post Iraq invasion.

    It’s main attraction is it’s neutrality and tax laws for expats.

  9. Let’s be honest, everyone in their good state of mind understand that Iran made enemies with their neighbours.

  10. Gulf states are either way very close to the US and Israel, I don’t think it makes a difference

  11. They have to get closer because that’s where all their air defense hardware got moved to.

  12. Lucky_Brilliant_2087 on

    Why would Iran care about that? This war is existential for them, first priority is survival, they can afford to think about friendships later.

    And secondly, I am not sure how popular closer ties with Israel would be among the voting population of the Gulf states.

  13. clydewoodforest on

    For the immediate, yes. But it won’t endure.

    Since 7/10 the region has been transitioning from the former status quo – a paradigm where the Middle East was divided between Sunni and Shia, between monarchies and republics, Islamist v western-aligned, where non-state actors exercised significant sway – to one where the Sunni Arab bloc is ascendant. They’ll be content for Israel to systematically destroy all their enemies, but the underlying tribalism and hostility won’t go away.

    Eg: Israel has just removed Saudi Arabia’s biggest threat and rival. Saudi responded by distancing themselves from normalization and doubling down on the Palestinian rhetoric. And that was a rational play. I hope planners in Israel are cognizant that their work is improving the security situation for their immediate rivals, not just themselves.