Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free
Your guide to what Trump’s second term means for Washington, business and the world
Senior Middle East diplomats have warned that a threatened war escalation between the United States and Iran would likely be even more damaging than previous rounds of conflict, which destabilized the region and caused turmoil in international energy markets.
“We are convinced that (…) the second round will be more dangerous, more destructive and that it will lead to nothing,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said on Saturday. “We are extremely worried,” he added.
In Saudi Arabia, authorities have made distance learning mandatory in the country’s schools, as missile and drone attacks by the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen continue to target the kingdom.
The Saudi-led coalition against the Houthis said on Sunday it had intercepted a ballistic missile and a drone launched by the Houthis towards the southern region of the kingdom.
Qatar is leading regional efforts to negotiate an interim deal between the United States and Iran before the US midterm elections next week. Iranian officials spent Saturday and Sunday in Doha for talks with mediators after a Qatari delegation visited Tehran on Friday.
There are fears in Iran and across the region that U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are considering launching an intense new phase of the war after Americans vote on Tuesday, with hopes it would target Iran’s nuclear and missile facilities, power plants and other infrastructure.
Iran has promised a fierce response, raising fears in the Gulf that the region’s energy sites and other civilian infrastructure, from airports to desalination plants, could be targeted again.
Gulf states also fear that a new wave of Iranian attacks could further erode investor and traveler confidence in the region.
Trade and transport in the region have already been disrupted by Iranian attacks on shipping passing through the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial artery for energy exports and a key regional supply route, while Gulf Arab states have suffered waves of Iranian drone and missile attacks targeting critical infrastructure.
Anwar Gargash, a senior UAE diplomat, said on Sunday that the US and Iranian positions were still very far apart and that “if these positions are not brought together, we will have to worry about the worst.”
The region is “prepared for the worst”, added the diplomatic adviser to the President of the United Arab Emirates, affirming that it was ready “to protect our achievements, our development model, our country, our citizens and those who reside here”.
Both Gargash and Abdelatty were speaking at the IISS Manama Dialogue security conference in Bahrain.
Iran has targeted U.S. civilian infrastructure and military bases in oil-rich Arab Gulf states, directly and through allies such as the Houthis, in an effort to increase the cost of the conflict for the global economy and U.S. allies in the region.
The United Arab Emirates bore the brunt of Iranian missile and drone attacks in March, as Iran responded to U.S.-Israeli attacks by targeting Gulf states. Another wave of escalation during the summer, again following American strikes against Iran, mainly targeted Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan.
The Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, has warned that he will respond “without any geographic limits” to new US-Israeli attacks.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said last week that although the Iranian military was “fully prepared to defend the homeland, Iran continued to give diplomacy a chance of success.”
Gn world
