US Gulf allies rattled — and seeing few good options — following Iran strikes

Washington’s Gulf Arab partners are bracing themselves for a fraught period ahead as the U.S. and Israel press on with a major operation in Iran — one they had lobbied against.

With Iran retaliating and taking aim at targets in Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Kuwait, Iraq, Qatar and elsewhere where the U.S. has military assets, these countries are considering their options and whether there is any way to avoid a regional war.

Trump administration officials signaled to some U.S. allies in the Gulf ahead of time that the attacks were coming and have been in frequent contact with Gulf Arab officials in the hours since, according to two officials from Arab countries in the region. Those officials declined to provide details of the conversations other than to say they had been briefed on the operations.

President Donald Trump has spoken with the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE, as well as NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said Saturday in a post on X. The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for additional details.

This is a delicate moment for Iran’s neighbors, many of which count on the U.S. for defense backing and are still hoping to have some influence over how the U.S.-Israel military campaign goes forward but now also need to focus on protecting their own airspaces and critical infrastructure.

It’s clear the Trump administration disregarded pleas from allies in the region in launching the attack on Iran. At least half a dozen Middle Eastern officials, including two foreign ministers, descended to Washington in the past month to caution against strikes, including from Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Oman.

These countries’ fears of a new level of instability in the region are already being realized. The six-member Gulf Cooperation Council — which includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE — is now coordinating on how to respond.

“The days ahead will be tricky,” a senior diplomat from a Gulf country said. “Iran grossly miscalculated by attacking the GCC,” using the abbreviation for the grouping. The person declined to say what actions were being discussed.

The diplomat, like others, was granted anonymity to discuss sensitive deliberations.

The GCC and each of the targeted countries issued statements condemning the Iranian attacks and have vowed to defend themselves. The leaders of the UAE and Saudi Arabia, who have been at odds for months over the civil war in Sudan and other tensions, spoke over the phone Saturday in a sign of how Iran’s response has jolted the region.

Oman’s foreign minister Badr Albusaidi — who has been mediating nuclear talks between the U.S. and Iran — said Saturday he was “dismayed” by the joint operation, launched just hours after he met with Vice President JD Vance in a last-ditch effort to head off the military strikes.

“Neither the interests of the United States nor the cause of global peace are well served by this,” Albusaidi said on X. “I urge the United States not to get sucked in further. This is not your war.”

It’s unlikely U.S.-Iran technical talks scheduled to take place next week in Vienna will proceed. Turkey, the European Union and others have called for regional diplomacy to de-escalate tensions.

Turkey, a NATO member which maintains relations with both governments and shares a border with Iran, lamented the U.S.-Israel attacks and Iran’s retaliation, saying in a statement: “We call on all parties to cease the attacks immediately.”

Now facing escalating attacks from the Iranians, Gulf states have a series of difficult options.

“The GCC is in the peculiar position of becoming a primary target when it had been pushing for de-escalation and diplomacy all along,” said Firas Maksad, managing director for Middle East and North Africa at the Eurasia Group.

He said Iran hopes its targeting of Gulf states will pressure Washington to stop the attacks, though he said such an approach is unlikely to succeed.

“A more likely outcome is a collective decision by GCC states to either allow the U.S. greater operational freedom to target Iran from their territories or even to respond themselves,” he said.

The escalation scenario favors the U.S., he said. Should Iran target Gulf energy infrastructure, that would trigger even more of a response from the U.S. and its Arab allies.

Elisa Ewers, a former U.S. official who has worked for decades on the Middle East, said these countries have no choice but to place significant faith in the Trump administration, especially now that Iran has upped the cost and targeted them so directly.

“They must hope air defenses hold for as long as needed and this conflict isn’t prolonged with serious economic impacts” said Ewers, who is now at the Council on Foreign Relations.