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The Islamic Republic of Iran certainly had enough notice that it was headed to war, given the sheer magnitude of American military buildup — the largest in the Middle East since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, which included the deployment of the USS Abraham Lincoln to the Arabian Sea on January 26, while the USS Gerald R. Ford was stationed off the coast of Israel. Add in eleven defense destroyers and several cruisers and support vessels positioned in the region. The Iranian regime did not react to American and Israeli strikes with calculated strategy and precision, but with miscalculated bluster.
When strikes came raining down on Saturday, Iran’s retaliation was swift. As expected, it fired on Israel as it had vowed to do, and launched ballistic missiles against U.S. bases in several Gulf countries. Iran apparently did not expect backlash, however, from its Sunni Arab neighbors. On January 20, Iran’s parliamentary national security commission had declared that any attack on the country’s supreme leader “would amount to a declaration of war on the Muslim world.” With Khamenei dead, instead of support from its Muslim neighbors, Iran drew fury from them as it unleashed attacks against American targets inside Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates. These countries confirmed they had intercepted Iranian missiles. Gulf states proceeded to close their airspace to Iran, while Saudi Arabia voiced a right to defend itself. “Saudi Arabia says reserves right of response after Iran attacks Riyadh, east,” Al Arabiya, February 28, 2026:
Saudi Arabia confirmed Saturday that Iran hit Riyadh and its eastern region with strikes, warning it reserved the right to defend itself including by retaliating.
Saudi Arabia “expressed its strongest condemnation of the blatant and cowardly Iranian attacks targeting the Riyadh and Eastern Province regions, which were repelled,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.
“In light of this unjustified aggression, the Kingdom affirms that it will take all necessary measures to defend its security and protect its territory, citizens and residents, including with the option of responding to the aggression.”
The United States and Israel carried out military strikes on Iran on Saturday, targeting its top leaders and plunging the Middle East into a conflict that President Donald Trump said would end a security threat to the US and give Iranians a chance to topple their rulers…
Iran launched hundreds of missiles and drones towards the Gulf states, “forcing countries to scramble their air defenses in order to protect civilians.” Gulf countries under attack have shown unity in their condemnation of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Anwar Gargash, former UAE foreign minister and currently a foreign policy adviser to the country’s president, stated unequivocally to Iran: “Your war is not with your neighbors.” Ironically, Gulf states hoped that hosting American bases on their turf would deter war, and they declined America permission to launch airstrikes against Iran from their territory. But now, Gulf states are no longer bystanders. According to Deutsche Welle:
Gulf states are now on the verge of being pulled into a conflict they say they want no part of, as well as potentially into an alliance with Israel, a country the majority have no official diplomatic relations with.
It is also uniting them, even though some, like Saudi Arabia and the UAE, have recently had major political disagreements. The Gulf states all have their own military forces, with Saudi Arabia’s considered the most powerful and well-funded. But experts doubt that the states will enter the fighting with their own militaries. Instead, they could allow the US greater access to territory or airspace, or they could even launch limited strikes against Iran
Retired General Jack Keane warned that the Gulf states are prepared to act.” With the deaths of Iran’s Supreme Leader and the killing of a 40 senior commanders “within a minute,” Gulf countries which criticized the strikes initially are “shifting posture” at a catastrophic time for Iran.
The UK has now given its permission for the U.S. to use British bases for “defensive purposes.” Keir Starmer announced his commitment to “our partners in the Gulf,” who he says “have asked us to do more to defend them.” He added:
And it’s my duty to protect British lives. We have British jets in the air as part of coordinated defensive operations which have already successfully intercepted Iranian strikes, but the only way to stop the threat is to destroy the missiles at source, in their storage depots or the launchers which are used to fire the missiles.”
The Iranian regime isn’t decelerating despite its isolation, while the Gulf states are responding “with technology supplied by the U.S.,” according to General Jack Keane. He continues:
“Publicly, they were supporting the Iranians and resisting the strike. Privately, they were supporting the U.S. and the IDF. I think we should knock that nonsense off once and for all. You’re with us publicly and privately.”
The Iranian regime is hanging by a thread as it deal with the death of its supreme leader, ongoing hammering by the overwhelming power of the U.S. military and Israel, an apparently unexpected united retaliation from the Gulf states, and opposition from its own population, with many, if not most, Iranians even willing to die to be rid of this regime.
Still, immense force will likely be needed to break definitively the current regime’s hold on power. And it is still unknown what will replace the Islamic regime, and whether or to what extent current regime actors might play a role in a future government. Given the resilience the regime has shown in past and currently, its commitment to “martyrdom,” and the sheer level of its hatred, propelled by its own Islamic religious zeal that was routinely echoed in its collective chant of “Death to America” and “Death to Israel,” it will not go down without much more bloodshed. The mullahs will not surrender their power without a fierce fight. So it now comes down to the strength and organization of the resistance to the regime, which has been deep underground for decades, given the regime’s ruthlessness and commitment to breaking it. Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi stated on X:
Following the killing of Ayatollah Khamenei, Donald Trump posted that there are many leaders inside the rgime who no longer want to fight, and who are looking for immunity from America….
Iran International states: “America’s suppression and destruction of enemy air defences exemplify refined and developed capabilities. The question is what that freedom achieves politically, and how long the US can sustain its acquisition…..A fantasy of a rapid collapse clashes with the reality of authoritarian resilience. Authoritarian regimes often plan to outlast their opponents’ attention spans. The regime only needs to endure. The US system, by contrast, is highly sensitive to time: news cycles, polling, congressional chatter, and election schedules.”
Yet the world knows that Trump is not one to back down, particularly given the severity of consequences should the current regime rise again, as it did after Operation Rising Lion in June, which targeted Iran’s nuclear infrastructure and ballistic missile capabilities. That operation failed to neutralize Iran as a threat; hence the necessity for the current operations. General Keane concluded that the remaining war “will focus on neutralizing Iran’s remaining retaliatory capabilities — including ballistic missiles and drone stockpiles — to prevent further attacks on U.S. troops, Israeli civilians and American allies in the Gulf.” The time may prove longer than anticipated, but Trump estimates four weeks or less. Trump also vows to avenge the deaths of three slain American service members.
Incidentally, this war has caused a deep fracture in the Muslim ummah. Iran is the chief Shia state, and its Arab Gulf neighbors did not support it at a critical juncture. This will not be forgotten anytime soon, and erodes international Islamic unity. The Iranian regime’s defeat will only be a beginning for Western interests. It isn’t the Democrats who will alleviate the ongoing jihad threat to America and Israel, which includes Iranian proxies, but also the Muslim Brotherhood, which rapidly multiplied during the Obama and Biden administrations. Operation Epic Fury (US) and Operation Roaring Lion (Israel) are together showing promise of a major victory, but the work will be far from finished in the global fight against the global jihad.
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