Bahrain, Kuwait Warplanes Struck Iran in Rare Gulf Retaliation
The strikes earlier this month reflect Arab reckoning with a lengthy war that threatens to draw them in even more deeply
- Bahrain and Kuwait secretly sent jets to attack military sites inside Iran, marking their first such direct retaliation against Tehran.
- U.A.E. provided intelligence and defensive air cover for the strikes, which targeted Iranian drone- and missile-storage depots.
- The strikes follow weeks of Iranian attacks targeting Bahrain and Kuwait, both of which host U.S. military bases.
Bahrain and Kuwait secretly sent jets to attack sites inside Iran, their first such direct retaliation against Tehran and an indication of the difficult position Arab states find themselves in as the war grinds on, people familiar with the matter said.
The airstrikes early this month targeted drone- and missile-storage depots, among other military sites, some of the people said. The United Arab Emirates—which attacked Iran multiple times early in the war—provided intelligence on targets and defensive air cover for the strikes in a sign of budding Arab cooperation in confronting Iran, those people said.
Iran for weeks has focused its retaliatory strikes on Bahrain and Kuwait, both of which host American military bases. The two Persian Gulf states have relatively small air forces, armed with U.S. and European jets, but didn’t want to let Tehran continue to hit them with impunity, the people said.
The U.A.E. said it supports a reduction in tensions in the region, including a full opening of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical route for Gulf oil exports. Its Foreign Ministry condemned the attacks on Kuwait and Bahrain and said it “stands in full solidarity with these states and reaffirms its support for all measures aimed at safeguarding their security and stability.”
Kuwaiti and Bahraini government spokespeople didn’t reply to requests for comment.
Their dilemma is reflected more broadly across the Gulf, whose Arab governments are stuck between a war they didn’t want and a much larger and aggrieved neighbor in Iran.
Collectively they absorbed the bulk of the punishment inflicted by Iran throughout the war and are now reckoning with the likelihood of an extended standoff that threatens their security and economies.
“The war continuing in the manner that it is playing out right now is their worst-case scenario,” said Dina Esfandiary, a Middle East analyst at Bloomberg Economics. “That is because it does not give them the opportunity to rebuild and maintain their image as a haven for stability in an unstable region. It affects their very models.”
The U.A.E. got involved in the conflict early on, carrying out dozens of airstrikes against Iran from the beginning of the war and continuing through the day after a ceasefire was announced in April, The Wall Street Journal has reported. Iran has generally avoided striking the country in recent weeks, though it hit two Emirati oil tankers earlier this month.
Kuwait and Bahrain are in a particularly tough spot. For decades, neither country has been on good terms with Iran, Esfandiary said, and they have been prime targets in the recent wave of fighting. Now Iran is stepping up its attacks to hit more critical infrastructure.
Kuwait’s Foreign Ministry said Sunday that Iran targeted a power plant and water desalination facility, calling it a threat to its citizens and a dangerous escalation.
Countries like Oman and Qatar have long triangulated between Iran and the West and have shown little appetite for confrontation with Tehran. Saudi Arabia joined the U.A.E. in attacking Iran earlier in the war but is currently evaluating its position, people familiar with the matter said.
Arab governments in the region had hoped the war would end quickly and let them get back to focusing on their economies. But the conflict is now in its fifth month with no sign of either side getting what it wants or backing down.
Gulf oil exports have been crippled by Iran’s chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz. A new threat emerged this week with a Red Sea blockade and strikes on shipping by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militia. Tourism in the region has dried up, and investment is under pressure.
Arab governments are now weighing whether they might need to become more aggressive in trying to pry open their critical trade routes.
“I think Gulf countries are beginning to realize that this war will continue for some time now,” said Umer Karim, a researcher focused on Saudi policy and Gulf geopolitics at the University of Birmingham. “This eventually means that they would have to confront Iran openly.”
Governments are even starting to countenance the idea of regime change in Tehran, he said, “because existing in the same neighborhood with this Iranian regime will effectively mean subservience to Iranian hegemony.”