06/03/2026
7 min ago
"IT'S NOT OUR WAR". GULF NATIONS TRY TO CHAOS AS CONFLICT SPREADS.
“It’s not our war,” a regional source told me earlier in the week, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive policy issues. The same sentiment reverberated through many conversations in Riyadh. Yet, explosions and fires caused by drones, missiles and debris of interceptions are serving the Gulf nations the ashy taste of war zones.
In the months leading up to the joint US-Israel attack, Arab nations argued strenuously against a prolonged war.
They understood that the chaos resulting from regime collapse in Iran would ensnare their economies and security for years. These repercussions are likely to far outlast the Iranian drones and missiles that are currently shattering the Arabian Gulf’s carefully tended brand of stability and prosperity.
“The kingdom is on a course of social and industrial and commercial development. We want to continue on that route instead of having military conflicts in the area,” former Saudi intelligence Chief Prince Turki Al-Faisal told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour this week. Instead, Saudi Arabia and its Arab neighbors are trapped between the “apocalyptic agendas” of Israel and Iran, he said.
That route has been upended. In the United Arab Emirates, billionaire Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor slammed Trump for dragging the region into war after promising peace and prosperity.
Official statements from Gulf nations condemning Iranian attacks have stressed that they have not allowed the US to use their airspace or territory to launch attacks.
And while the same statements note that Arab Gulf countries reserve the right to respond to Iranian aggression, hitting back comes with strategic and political risks.
Taking this option means weighing the reliability of the US as a political partner and weapons supplier. Israel’s attack on Qatar, home to the biggest US air base in the region, in September is still fresh in people’s minds.
And away from these calculations, optics matter. “Do you want to be seen as siding with Israel against another fellow Muslim country?” the regional source said.
