In just the first two days of the war, the Americans and Israelis attacked thousands of targets, in a massive assault that has hit 130 cities across Iran, destroyed hundreds of ballistic missiles and several missile plants, hit again the nuclear enrichment site deep underground at Natanz that had been hit by American bunker-buster bombs last June, sank most of Iran’s navy in order to make it harder for Iran to block the Strait of Hormuz, killed the supreme leader and another forty of Iran’s most senior civilian and military leaders, destroyed dozens of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) command-and-control centers, hit IRGC, Basij, and police headquarters and barracks in Tehran, and brought the Islamic Republic to a state of not knowing where to put its feet and hands. It has been launching missiles and drones at nine of its Sunni Arab neighbors.
Now, unable to successfully strike the many well-defended American military bases in the region, save for one missile that killed six soldiers in Kuwait, and similarly unable to cause much damage to the Israelis, with their layered anti-missile defenses, so that so far only nine Israeli civilians have been killed from a ballistic missile that struck a synagogue at Beit Shemesh, and one other civilian from a different missile that hit Tel Aviv, the Iranians are flailing about, hitting the Gulf Arab states that host American bases, but instead of targeting only those bases, Iran has so far struck a luxury hotel, The Fairmont, in Dubai, as well as that emirate’s international airport, the busiest in the world, launched in two days 541 bomb-carrying drones at the U.A.E., of which 506 were intercepted. Iran has also struck the American embassies in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. It has hit the Ras Tanura oil refiner, the largest in the world, setting it on fire, and struck a natural gas production facility in Qatar, forcing its closure.
Iran attacked US bases in Bahrain and the UAE. One of the explosions occurred near Abu Dhabi International Airport.
The US Fifth Fleet base and an oil refinery were hit in Bahrain. Heavy fires are currently raging there. Iranian media also reported an attack on a US military… pic.twitter.com/ilhf2wtUCF
— Victor vicktop55 commentary (@vick55top) March 5, 2026
The Gulf states are furious over these Iranian attacks, and more on their likely response can be found here: “Gulf states on verge of acting against Iran over ‘reckless’ strikes across region,” by Patrick Wintour, Guardian, March 2, 2026:
Gulf states, encouraged by Donald Trump, are on the verge of ending their neutrality in the war against Iran in reprisal for Tehran’s repeated “reckless and indiscriminate attacks” on their territory and infrastructure.
The calls, led by the United Arab Emirates from inside the six-country Gulf Cooperation Council, are for the Arab states to act in self-defence against Iran, but it would be a huge step for Gulf leaders in effect to side with Israel in a war that will determine the future shape of the Middle East, probably to the advantage of Israel.
A video meeting of GCC foreign ministers on Sunday made no explicit reference to such a plan but stated the “option to respond to Iranian attacks” to protect regional security and stability remained on the table….
Apart from an Iranian drone strike on Saudi Arabia’s Ras Tanura refinery, Oman has reported an attack on an oil tanker 50 miles off the coast of Muscat, and Qatar’s defence ministry has reported that two drones struck energy facilities in the industrial city of Ras Laffan. Iran has denied attacking Saudi energy facilities….
The huge fire still burning at the Ras Tanura refinery rebuts the Iranian claim that it has not attacked Saudi energy sites.
There is also some dismay at the US. One Saudi Arabian official complained to Al Jazeera about US priorities. “The United States abandoned the Gulf states and redirected its air defence to protect Israel. They left all the Gulf states that host American military bases at the mercy of Iranian strikes,” the official said.
Iran’s ballistic missiles that the Americans have been destroying have been aimed primarily at the Gulf states; it is nonsense to accuse the U.S. of “abandoning” the Gulf states. The Iranian navy, with so many of its ships now sunk by the Americans, was a threat not to Israel, but to the Gulf states, because those ships helped enforce the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The American military bases at eight Gulf Arab states have been intercepting Iranian missiles and drones by the hundreds. The U.S. has not been “protecting Israel” from Iranian barrages because the IDF is perfectly capable of defending the Jewish state from Iranian attacks by itself. After three days of war, a total of only nine Israelis have been killed.
By hitting all of its Sunni neighbors, Iran hopes that they will put pressure on America to stop its war. But Iran seems to have disastrously miscalculated. The only result has been growing fury with Iran in the countries hit, both among the leaders and among the people. One more Iranian ballistic missile attack that destroys a skyscraper in Abu Dhabi, or kills dozens of people in Riyadh, or hits another hotel in Dubai or in Doha, or forces the closure of yet another airport, and the GCC countries will launch their own missiles and drones toward Iran. That, of course, is a consummation to be wished.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
I think the main reason for these attacks is that now that the top command of the IRGC has been eliminated, everyone is doing their own thing. How else does one explain attacks on not just Qatar, but also Iraq, Azerbaijan and even Turkey?
I do think that if these countries retaliate, then unlike Israel or the US, they won’t make any distinction b/w the Iranian civilians cheering each setback of the regime, vs the regime itself. Their hatred of the Iranians is racial, so like Saddam Hussein in the 1980s, they’d relish the opportunity to kill as many Iranians as they can, no matter what their views. In fact, they’re probably aware that most Iranians no longer profess islam, which would make them the “worst of creatures”, as per the qur’an. Another reason why, if they retaliate, it won’t be good, as opposed to Israel or the US bombing targets in Iran