Gulf Arab States Explore New Options as U.S. Bases Fail to Deter Iran
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Gulf Arab States Explore New Options as U.S. Bases Fail to Deter Iran
The American presence in these countries has not shielded them from retaliation during the Iran war. Now they are hoping direct talks with Iran could help.
Gulf Arab countries have long relied for their security on the U.S. military bases that they host.
But after six months of war, the repeated pummeling of those countries by Iranian missiles and drones has made the limitations of American security guarantees abundantly clear.
Iran and its allies have nearly destroyed some of the U.S. bases, set luxury hotels ablaze and, most recently, knocked offline one of the most critical pieces of energy infrastructure in the world, an oil pipeline that stretches across Saudi Arabia.
Their backs against a wall, Gulf Arab officials are now trying to cobble together different ways to avoid attacks by Iran and its allies, including direct diplomacy with the Islamic Republic.
Even that option faces challenges. On Sunday night, a meeting that was scheduled for Monday between Iran and the Gulf Arab states was abruptly postponed. The delay came after Saudi Arabia and Iran reached an impasse in discussions about the Strait of Hormuz — a crucial route for Gulf energy exporters — according to a senior Gulf official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy.
Analysts say the region’s leaders have no choice but to seek different security options after the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran exposed the vulnerabilities of the Gulf Arab countries and emboldened the Islamic Republic.
“We’re stuck in this position of trying to build something new while maintaining some of the old,” said Bader Al-Saif, an assistant professor of history at Kuwait University. “We need to snap out of this external protector syndrome.”
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