Drills and nuclear warnings as climate of uncertainty shrouds Middle East

Several Middle Eastern countries are raising their preparedness by running safety drills at key sites, increasing food supplies and testing military capabilities. The move comes as <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/2026/11/02/attacks-on-ships-in-strait-of-hormuz-could-be-higher-than-official-count/">Iran's attacks on shipping lanes</a> strain supply chains and as US-Iran negotiations fail to reach a breakthrough, raising the prospects of a wider war.

US President Donald Trump’s repeated threats to renew attacks if no diplomatic end to the conflict is found have fuelled those fears. Israel is widely expected to rejoin the US if wide-ranging hostilities break out again. Qatar, which has been struck repeatedly by Iran since the start of the war, has conducted a full-scale emergency drill at its international airport as part of an annual exercise. Qatar Airways said "contingency planning and operational readiness activities" were taking place at Hamad International Airport.

“As part of the planned national exercise, increased activity may be visible both on the ground at HIA and in the surrounding airspace," it said. In Egypt, the armed forces have been placed on high alert, with air defence systems beefed up along the country's porous Red Sea coastline and at the Suez Canal in anticipation of a possible spillover from renewed hostilities, security sources in Cairo said. The most populous Arab nation, with 110 million people, has been closely monitoring its strategic reserves of basic food items, primarily wheat flour, in case major hostilities in the Red Sea disrupt supply chains, the sources said.

The government announced late last month that the country has reserves of essential food items to cover a six-month period. Around the same time, state importer Future of Egypt bought five cargoes of wheat, one of its biggest purchases in six months. Meanwhile, Israel's army announced its Search and Rescue Brigade will carry out an exercise this week to improve its readiness. Troops, it said, will practise “multifront scenarios, utilising their search-and-rescue capabilities and co-operating with other forces and emergency organisations”.

Jordanian military and security agencies conducted a joint exercise late last month to “enhance efficiency and readiness, and develop operational capabilities to address various circumstances and challenges,” the official Petra news agency reported. Airport International Group which runs Jordan's main Queen Alia airport said it has conducted an "emergency response" at the airport on October 20. "The exercise was devised to ensure that emergency situations are handled in accordance with national and international civil aviation regulations," it said in a rare announcement but without giving details.

Ten days ago, <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/2026/10/23/lebanese-and-british-troops-conclude-three-week-joint-exercise-with-mock-helicopter-assault/">Lebanese and British troops</a> concluded a three-week joint exercise in Lebanon aimed at enhancing co-operation between the two militaries. The drills and exercises do not necessarily mean full-scale war is imminent. However, the US-Iran stand-off and rising anxiety about any fallout from a new round of hostilities have rattled the region, feeding a climate of uncertainty.

Iran's state media published a video giving Iranians instructions on what to do in the case of a nuclear strike, with advice on taking shelter indoors and not looking directly at the blast site. “If you're outdoors and cannot immediately take shelter in a building, then stay behind a barrier, lie on the ground and cover your head and face,” a voice-over says. “After the blast wave has passed, enter the nearest building – don't stay out to watch, or take photos, or take shelter in a car.”

US President Donald Trump has ruled out the use of a nuclear weapon on Iran but left open the possibility his military could use the non-nuclear <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/news/gulf/2026/10/21/araghchi-says-strait-of-hormuz-will-stay-closed-until-us-agrees-to-irans-terms/">GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast</a> (MOAB), which he described as an extremely large conventional weapon. Underlining the gravity of the region's present volatility, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi said on Tuesday that a military escalation will have "disastrous" consequences for the region and the entire world.

He urged all stakeholders to reach a diplomatic solution "before it's too late." His Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty has also warned that renewed hostilities in the Gulf region could have global consequences. Speaking last week at the IISS Manama Dialogue annual security forum in Bahrain, he said: “The second ​round will be more dangerous, more destructive, and it will lead nowhere. We have to draw lessons from the past.” Disrupting shipping routes in the region, he noted, could affect global energy and food security, financial markets, supply chains and international trade.

Already, the <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/news/gulf/2026/11/03/trumps-iran-dilemma-as-americans-vote-escalate-negotiate-or-risk-wider-war/">US-Iran war</a>, which broke out in February, has delivered the deepest energy shock in modern history, sending oil prices soaring with the cost of living surging across much of the Middle East and Europe.