Iran’s Gulf neighbours, highly vulnerable to spillover from the conflict between Israel and Iran, have continued to urge restraint following the weekend attack on Iranian nuclear facilities by the US.
Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry said it “condemned and denounced the [US] violation of [Iran’s] sovereignty [and] underscored the need to avoid further escalation”.
Having reconciled with Iran in 2023 after six years of estrangement, Saudi Arabia has led the call for a “political solution that would bring an end to the crisis” and promote security and stability in this region.
The United Arab Emirates has urged an immediate end to the conflict “to void serious repercussions” and an end to actions that could create “new levels of instability”. Emirati federation president Mohamed bin Zayed discussed developments with Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, Kuwaiti ruler Mishal Al-Sabah and Qatari emir Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani.
The foreign ministry of Qatar, host to the region’s largest US military base, warned that the “dangerous escalation in the region may lead to catastrophic consequences at both the regional and international levels”.
Having mediated talks between Washington and Tehran before Israel’s strikes on Iran, Oman said the actions taken by the US threaten to expand the scope of the conflict and constitute a serious violation of international law and the United Nations Charter. Oman reaffirmed Iran’s “legitimate right to develop nuclear programmes for peaceful purposes”.
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Lebanese president Joseph Aoun said on X that Lebanon has already “paid a heavy price for the wars that erupted on its land and in the region. It is unwilling to pay more [since] the cost of these wars was and will be greater than its ability to bear.” Iraqi government spokesman Basim Alawadi called the military escalation “a grave threat to peace and security in the Middle East”.
After the US falsely accused Iraq of possessing weapons of mass destruction as justification for the war in 2003, Baghdad is highly sensitive to American and Israeli claims that Iran can produce nuclear weapons within weeks or months.
US intelligence agencies have estimated it could take Iran three years to build bombs once Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei revokes his ruling that such weapons are ”un-Islamic”.
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During Saturday’s Istanbul meeting of foreign ministers of the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation, Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan said “Israel is now leading the region to total disaster by attacking Iran”.
“There is no Palestinian, Lebanese, Syrian, Yemeni or Iranian problem, but there is clearly an Israeli problem.”
