DUBAI/RIYADH: Gulf states, home to multiple US military bases, were on high alert on Sunday with their leaders calling on all parties to exercise maximum restraint following US strikes on Iran that raised the possibility of a wider conflict in the region.
President Donald Trump said US forces “obliterated” Iran’s main nuclear sites with massive bunker-busting bombs in the early hours of Sunday, joining an Israeli assault in a significant new escalation.
Gulf leaders including the United Arab Emirates president, the Emir of Qatar and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, who had all hosted Trump last month for a tour of the region, discussed the serious implications of the escalation for international and regional security, the UAE state news agency reported. Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, was on a high-security alert after the US strikes, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Sunday, while Bahrain urged motorists to avoid main roads.
Kuwait, another key oil exporter, said its defence council would remain in permanent session, according to the state news agency on Sunday, and set up shelters in a ministries complex. Tehran has previously warned that if it were attacked by the United States, it could target American assets in the region, including US military bases.
The country’s parliament approved the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which around 20 per cent of global oil and gas demand flows, according to Iran’s Press TV, but a final decision rests with the Iranian Supreme National Security Council.
Bahrain is home to the headquarters of the US Navy’s 5th Fleet and there are US bases in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, as well as in neighbouring Qatar and the UAE. Nuclear authorities in Saudi Arabia and the UAE said they had not detected signs of nuclear contamination following the strikes in Iran.
“While the war has so far been contained in direct hostilities between Israel and Iran, direct US involvement is a critical threshold that risks dragging the Gulf states, notably Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar, which host large US military facilities, into the conflict,” said Hasan Al Hasan, a senior fellow for Middle East Policy at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
He said the risk of an open conflict between the US and Iran could plunge the region into a devastating and potentially protracted conflict. The US strikes added to airline woes with Singapore Airlines cancelling flights from Singapore to Dubai on Sunday and British Airways cancelling flights to and from Dubai and Doha. Airlines have been avoiding flying over large parts of the Middle East, including Iran, Iraq, Syria and Israel, due to ongoing missile exchanges.
“In light of recent developments in the regional security situation, we urge citizens and residents to use main roads only when necessary to maintain public safety and to allow the relevant authorities to use the roads efficiently,” Bahrain’s interior ministry said on X.