Iran War Spreads Further as UAE, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait Also Engage in Fighting

[Financial News] Pro-U.S. countries around the Persian Gulf, which came under missile and drone attacks from Iran after the war between the United States and Iran in February, are now being accused of secretly carrying out retaliatory airstrikes against Iran. The Iran War is gradually spreading across the entire Persian Gulf after Iranian troops were captured in Kuwait.
The Times of Israel (ToI) reported on the 13th, citing two Western government officials, that Saudi Arabia used its air force to strike Iranian territory in late March. It would be the first known case of Saudi Arabia, which has long confronted Shia Iran as a leading state of Sunni Islam, directly attacking Iran.
The specific target of the Saudi strike has not been confirmed. One official noted that Saudi Arabia was responding in retaliation to Iran's attacks. The foreign ministries of Saudi Arabia and Iran did not respond to requests for comment on the claim.
After the United States and Israel began airstrikes on Iran on Feb. 28, Iran launched indiscriminate attacks on U.S. government facilities, civilian sites and oil production facilities in six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). According to the Ministry of Defense of the United Arab Emirates, Iran fired 550 ballistic missiles and more than 2,200 drones at the UAE during the war.
Saudi Arabia was not the first Middle Eastern country to retaliate against Iran. On the 12th, ToI reported, citing an attack on a petrochemical complex in the UAE by Iran on the 5th of last month, that the UAE struck the South Pars Petrochemical Complex in southern Iran the next day in cooperation with Israel. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on the 11th, citing officials, that the UAE also bombed a refinery on Kharg Island off Iran's southern coast on the 8th of last month, shortly after the U.S.-Iran ceasefire took effect. The UAE has not officially acknowledged the attack.



Middle Eastern countries have so far been restraining military action after the U.S.-Iran ceasefire. Saudi Arabia informed Iran of the airstrike immediately afterward in March and warned of further retaliation. At the same time, it sought to ease tensions by maintaining diplomatic contact through the Iranian ambassador in the kingdom. According to Saudi Arabia's Defense Ministry, drone and missile attacks on the country exceeded 105 in the week of March 25-31, but fell to around 25 in the week of April 1-6.
However, tensions in the Middle East are rising again as the U.S.-Iran ceasefire talks remain stalled. In a report on the 12th, the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) cited a statement from the local government saying that the four people arrested during a border incursion on the 1st were Iranian soldiers. On the 1st, six people aboard a fishing boat tried to land secretly on Bubiyan Island in northern Kuwait and clashed with Kuwaiti forces. Two of the six fled at the time. According to the Kuwaiti government, the four captured men confessed that they belonged to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). In a statement released on the 6th of last month, Iran's military claimed it had attacked Bubiyan Island with drones. It also said the U.S. military had moved satellite equipment and ammunition to a temporary base on Bubiyan Island after Camp Arifjan in Kuwait was repeatedly attacked.
In a statement on the 12th, Iran's foreign ministry claimed that the four Iranian military officers entered Kuwaiti waters by accident because of a navigation system failure during a maritime patrol mission. The ministry said Iran respects the territory and sovereignty of all countries in the Middle East, and urged the Kuwaiti government not to make "hasty remarks and unfounded claims," but to resolve the matter through official diplomatic channels.

Meanwhile, Bahrain's Public Prosecution announced on the 12th that about 20 people, including three sentenced to life in prison, had received prison terms on charges of espionage after being recruited by the IRGC.




pjw@fnnews.com Park Jong-won Reporter