A saying attributed to former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has resurfaced during the ongoing war in Iran: “Those who wrap themselves in America are naked.” Put another way, those who count on American protection are ultimately left high and dry.
That quote (which some also attribute to Mubarak’s predecessor Anwar Sadat) has been making the rounds on social media in recent days, capturing a broader feeling, particularly in the Gulf Arab states, that this war has been brought upon them by the United States, and that, despite this, it appears to be leaving them “uncovered” in its response to the Iranian threat.
For the first few days of the Iran war, the Gulf states were relatively quiet in public, reflecting an uncertainty about how long the retaliation against their cities would last. Would this latest round of missile and drone strikes be brief — as with Iran’s retaliation against U.S. air bases in Qatar during last June’s war with Israel — or would it last longer? More than a week in, the answer is clearly the latter.
Yet within the Gulf, there were differences over who to blame. Iran’s strategy was clearly to cause sufficient pain to the Gulf states, particularly the United Arab Emirates, which has been hit harder than any other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) country, in the hope that they would pressure Washington to end the war. That conversation was happening behind the scenes. But now it has burst into the open.
In a post on X, Amr Moussa, the Egyptian former secretary-general of the Arab League, called the strikes on Iran “a strategic American move that was planned,” and “a major step toward reshaping the Middle East (including the Arab world) into a geopolitical regional order that Israel seeks to lead.”
In response, veteran Saudi journalist Abdulrahman al-Rashed argued that this sort of framing ignores the fact that Iran itself is a threat to its neighbors in the region, stressing that GCC countries, along with Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen and others, “have lived for decades under the threat and destruction of Iran’s expansionist project.”
Not to be outdone, Moussa invoked a sense of pan-Arab solidarity to reiterate that Iran’s actions should be condemned, adding that “aggression against any Arab country represents aggression against all of us and requires solidarity in response to it.”
The debate quickly drew more responses from across the region. Lt. Gen. Dhahi Khalfan, Dubai’s deputy police chief, highlighted that the threats from Israel and Iran are not mutually exclusive, and that interventions from both countries have harmed the Arab world’s stability, showing that it cannot rely on external powers (read: the U.S.) to protect its interests. Khalaf Al Habtoor, the UAE business tycoon, echoed this sentiment, calling the aggressors “two sides of the same coin,” and took another jab at the U.S., arguing that the region’s countries must trust their own capabilities rather than relying on alliances with powers whose interests don’t align with theirs. Dawood al-Shirian, a prominent Saudi journalist and TV anchor, weighed in by warning against framing the current challenges as a “misleading binary” between Israel and Iran. The real issue, he wrote, “is a competition between two hegemonic projects competing over the region.”
Both Moussa and al-Rashed are important figures in the Arab world, even though they don’t hold political positions. Their public statements often reflect the thinking among Arab elites close to power circles. Their exchange reflects a wider debate in the region around how to navigate competing pressures from America, Iran and Israel, laying bare three tendencies. The first is aligned with Iran’s ideological opposition to Israel. It views the Gulf states, along with Syria, as mere inconveniences in a larger struggle against Israeli domination. Opposing this view are those who have directly borne the brunt of Iranian influence, including the Gulf states, Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen, which have faced decades of attacks and broader military actions by Iranian proxies. A third perspective aims to reconcile the other two, viewing both Iran and Israel as destabilizers in the region.
The debate between Moussa and al-Rashed, and the commentary it sparked, reflects the few statements from Gulf leaders, who now seem to be speaking more openly.
UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed, who rarely makes public statements, gave an interview emphasizing his country’s resilience since the war began. “All is well in the UAE,” he said, from a hospital where he was visiting those injured in attacks over the last week. Directly addressing “the enemies of the UAE,” he warned that the country “has thick skin and bitter flesh. We are not easy prey.” His comments signal that the Gulf states will not continue to tolerate intimidation from Iran, but are still some way from becoming actively involved in this war.
Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani spoke to Sky News on Saturday, expressing a sense of betrayal amid the region’s shifting calculations and warning that the attacks on Gulf countries had “destroyed” their previous relationship with Iran. Given that Qatar has maintained a diplomatic connection with its Gulf neighbors and the U.S., his words reveal a new assertiveness coming from the Gulf’s leadership as well as a growing awareness that they can’t rely on external allies for security.
As they seek to deal with escalating attacks on their territory, Gulf countries have also been facing what appears to be a coordinated campaign to drag them into the war.
When Lindsey Graham, a U.S. senator close to Donald Trump, suggested on X yesterday that the GCC could “get more involved” in the war, Al Habtoor replied with a long statement, reminding Graham that it was the U.S. that dragged the region to war without consultation, and saying the Gulf would not sacrifice its sons in a conflict that serves the interests of others. That post was later deleted, perhaps reflecting a sense that categorical statements might be difficult to stand behind if this war continues for weeks.
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