Chicago – March 04, 2026
Gulf states have found themselves on the front line of the Middle East’s newest war, and they are angry.
Iran has retaliated to US-Israeli air strikes by firing hundreds of missiles and drones at its Arab neighbours – targeting American military bases on their soil, but also civilian and energy infrastructure.
In doing so it is targeting the Gulf’s image as a safe, prosperous hub for travel, tourism and finance, and disrupting the oil and gas industry at its core.
This is a war that the Arab governments didn’t want and tried to prevent. The question is whether they’ll be drawn into it by what they’ve called the “treacherous” Iranian attacks.
“All the red lines have already been crossed,” said Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesman Majed al Ansari at a press briefing on Tuesday.
“The attacks on our sovereignty are constant,” he told journalists.
“There are attacks on infrastructure. There are attacks on our residential areas. And the effects of these attacks are very clear. When it comes to possible retaliation, all options are with our leadership. But we have to make it very clear that attacks like these will not go unanswered and cannot go unanswered.”
