Gulf States Fear Escalation as US Iran Strikes Rattle Region
Abbas Araghchi during a news conference in Istanbul, on June 22. He said he’d spoken with counterparts across the region the day before who were “worried about a possible attack by the United States.”
Photographer: Ozan Kose/AFP/Getty Images
Iran’s Arab neighbors urged restraint and warned of potentially devastating implications for the region after US strikes on Tehran’s nuclear program raised the prospects for all-out war in the Middle East.
In statements on Sunday, Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry condemned the violation of Iran’s sovereignty, Qatar warned it would have “disastrous consequences,” and Oman called it “illegal.” Those countries, and the United Arab Emirates, have spent months trying to use their geopolitical and economic heft to bolster nuclear talks between the Americans and Iran.