Why Trump’s Gulf allies are resisting pressure to join the Iran war

2026-03-12 - 13:34

Since the Iran war began, Gulf states have faced a barrage of Iranian missiles and drones, leaving their leaders with an unenviable choice: anger their closest ally and security guarantor, or risk the wrath of a powerful neighbor they must live beside long after the war ends. Over the weekend, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards acknowledged that about 40% of its firepower had been directed at Israel, with the majority targeting its Arab neighbors instead. More than 2,000 projectiles have been fired at Gulf states. Both sides in the conflict appear to be using strikes on the Gulf to their advantage. Iran hopes that hitting Gulf states will drive them away from Washington, while the US and Israel appear to be using the Iranian attacks to pressure Arab governments to join the war. Kamal Kharrazi, a key foreign policy adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, told CNN that the strikes would continue in an effort to push Gulf states to persuade US President Donald Trump to step back from the conflict. Last week, Trump told CNN that seeing the United States’ Arab allies battered by Iran was the “biggest surprise” of the war, adding that the attacks prompted the Gulf states to “insist on being involved.” Yet Gulf Arab nations have repeatedly said they have no desire to join the war. Republican senator and Trump ally Lindsey Graham has been the most explicit in pressing Washington’s Arab allies to participate. After a trip to Israel, he questioned why the US should defend partners like Saudi Arabia that refuse to take part in what he described as a shared struggle against Iran. If they do not, “consequences will follow,” he warned. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham pictured in the US Capitol last week. Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc./Getty Images Regional leaders have largely avoided responding publicly to such pressure. But Dubai billionaire and business tycoon Khalaf Al Habtoor offered a glimpse of the sentiment in the Gulf in a response to Graham’s comments. “We know full well why we are under attack, and we also know who dragged the entire region into this dangerous escalation without consulting those he calls his ‘allies’ in the region,” he wrote on X, before deleting