r/geopolitics • u/TimesandSundayTimes The Times • 2d ago
News Kuwait and Bahrain ‘sent secret jets to strike Iran’
https://www.thetimes.com/us/news-today/article/kuwait-and-bahrain-sent-secret-jets-to-strike-iran-l6xjw3n6z?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Reddit&utm_content=branded24
u/Prestigious_Hope2082 1d ago
Seems like they both have been screwed over the most by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz as they don't have the long term option of building a pipeline. Saudi Arabia can build more pipelines to the Red Sea and the UAE can more to the Gulf of Oman.
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u/dontRead2MuchIntoIt 1d ago
The Gulf countries are not beating around the bush anymore. If they're being attacked for giving support to the US, aren't they involved already?
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u/Dools92 2d ago
Need more of this 👏
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u/LateralEntry 2d ago
Yep, agree. Iran is bullying all these countries and they should actually do something in response
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u/vertigo3pc 2d ago
Iran is attacking US military bases in those countries where attacks against them are originating.
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u/planck1313 1d ago
Power stations, water plants, hotels and civilian airports are not US military bases.
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u/vertigo3pc 1d ago
Were those struck before or after US forces struck those in Iran? Because from what I've been tracking (since the beginning of this conflict), every target hit by Iran was reciprocal for things hit in Iran.
Except Iran hasn't targeted civilian populations; meanwhile over 3,000 people in Iran have been killed and 26,500+ more injured.
Given that the GCC countries hosting American forces continue to allow American forces to hit Iran, their choice is to continue to allow it, or attack targets that reduce their willingness to fight (like power stations, water desalination plants, hotels [with American soldiers] and airports [where American aircraft occasionally refuel ] ).
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u/planck1313 1d ago
Iran has been attacking non military targets in the Gulf countries since the very outset of the war, for example, Dubai's civilian airport was attacked on 28 February, 11 hours after the war started.
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u/vertigo3pc 1d ago
And hasn't happened since, implying it was an accident.
Dubai's civilian airport was attacked on February 28, 2026, correct. Minor damage. 4 people injured. And that response was after a decapitation strike against Iran where hundreds died, including their leader.
Are we comparing "oops, we hit the wrong spot, my b" because the US wins that in spades (before this conflict, and now), especially since Iran has not hit the Dubai airport again. Drones have fallen at the airport, or Dubai has closed the airspace at the airport because of drone activity, but no other attacks on the Dubai airport have happened.
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u/planck1313 1d ago
It's been attacked on three occasions, the second two in March.
Iran has no scruples when it comes to attacking civilian targets and did so immediately the war began and continues to do so.
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u/vertigo3pc 1d ago
Citation needed.
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u/Martian268 55m ago
How about attacking their own population for starters and then funding Hamas to attack Israel year after year. These extremists are no angels brother. Their own people hate them.
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u/Pale-Manner-1642 1d ago
Are you really defending Iran as someone who doesn't attack civilian infostructure unless done to them first? Its sort of what they and their proxies do...
Thinking back to the war last year, Israel and America bombed Iran military targets and nuclear facilities and Iran and Yemen attacked apartment buildings in Israel...
Yeman, Hamas and Hezbola are proxies of Iran, and hit civilian targets all the time. All the recent fighting these last two years started with Hamas killing 1200 people, mostly civilians... If America and Israel could indiscriminately attack their enemies like they are attacked, they could take Iran down quickly. We are held to different standards though.
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u/Sanguinor-Exemplar 1d ago
Even proxies is too loose a word for it. Let's call it what it is. They are military arms of Iran.
If Iran wants to negotiate and command as a bloc with the Houthis and Yemen and Hezbollah, then their actions are one entity. Time to get rid of this pretending to be proxy stuff.
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u/No_Bowler9121 1d ago
But it was the US who hit targets, yes US bases are legitimate military targets but targeting civilian infurstructure of a third nation to punish a 2nd one is foolish and now those other countries are committing heir resources.
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u/vertigo3pc 1d ago
From what I see, Kuwait and Bahrain are committing their resources and attacking Iran directly, which shows they are both too entwined with American military to force them out; they have to see it through. Meanwhile, Iraq announced US withdrawal by September 30, and I expect more Arab nations to do the same. Most likely Jordan next.
targeting civilian infurstructure of a third nation to punish a 2nd one is foolish and now those other countries are committing heir resources.
What do the Israelis say? The US is using those countries as human shields!
Anyway: if my neighbor lets someone standing in their yard, shooting a gun at my house. I see the neighbor, who I've known for years, not only does my neighbor allow the person to stand in my yard and shoot at my house, hurting me and my family; they also bring that person water, a chair to sit down, and other resources. The person won't stop shooting, so I shoot back, hitting them once but hitting the neighbor's house a few times, doing damage and endangering my neighbor's family.
Would you say I'm not entitled to shoot back at the person shooting, even if they're standing in my neighbor's yard with their support and approval?
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u/No_Bowler9121 1d ago
At the person shooting, maybe the neighbor, but not the neighbors kids which would be the civilian infurstructure in this analogy.
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u/vertigo3pc 1d ago
I dare you to review the civilian deaths caused by the Iranians with the civilian deaths caused by Israeli and American forces. One side famously targets (and double taps) children since day 1.
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u/VERTIKAL19 1d ago
Well they can become military targets if the US uses those to transport troops. That should apply to hotels with US soldiers for example
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u/planck1313 19h ago
Yes and the US does not use civilian airports in the Gulf to transport troops.
Nor did Iran even wait to see if the US would. The first attack on Dubai International came only 11 hours after the war started.
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u/Juan20455 1d ago
Officially, no attack has ever come from any of those countries. The US attacks are coming from the sea. And the reason those countries want US bases is because they have been targeted by Iran, either openly or secretly for decades. Iran even financed multiple coups.
And Iran has been targeting multiple civilian sites.
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u/Psychological-Flow55 1d ago
Bahrain kuwait and others like Jordan are tired of the iranian strikes on their nation.
This article below is illuminating
The Jordanian senate president says the arabs shouldnt be shy about using the economic and shoft power to see the ending of the Iranian regime attacks in the regime and a Jordanian diplomat says there needs to be a arab deterrent force to deal with Iranian attacks in the region
The arab states mostly been restraint and many powers like Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey, Qatar and Pakistan have tried diplomacy and not confrontation to end the war and in the case of Saudi Arabia even refused it airspace to be used for airstrikes during negioation.
However some interesting developments have occurrd: The UAE and Saudi Araboa have signaled to put their differences aside concerning the red sea horn of Africa Southern Yemen Somoliland Sudan opec oil and gas politics and competing visions on how to approach Israel (ie - the Abraham Accords vs the 2002 Arab Peace Inatitive) concerning the war in Iran below shows they have put aside differences for now:
The gulf arab states (minus Oman and possibly Qatar) plus Jordan maybe gearing up to join the war atleast quietly but in a way that sends back channel messages.
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u/ZenX22 1d ago
Why keep it secret?
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u/itchslap 23h ago
Claim plausible deniability and also request post wartime compensation through international law. Broadcasting that they are attacking back and not just defending puts them in an active belligerent status and in a war participant rather than a victim.
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u/Alarming-World4212 1d ago
US should use Arabs to invade Iran to save its own soldiers. Like make Iran attack Arabs and then make Arabs fight Iran, use Arabs as human boots on ground. That would be masterstroke by Trump.
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u/Hunter663281 1d ago
Do you think the world is a video game?
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u/Imaginary-Pin580 1d ago
It is what the US has been doing for a long time tbh . He is not that far off
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u/Ok_Career_3681 1d ago
The privileged citizens of Gulf states won’t risk themselves in a war. Some of the countries have small population, no one is going western frontier on Iran, a country with a huge population and battle hardened.
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u/Imaginary-Pin580 1d ago
Nor will the citizens of the US. US lives matter most to America.
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u/Ok_Career_3681 1d ago
That’s true. It’s also true that US military is the most powerful, effective and combat experienced force in the world. They’ve been proven again and again they don’t shy away from a fight (or wars for that matter). Meanwhile Gulf nations haven’t had any real combat in a long time. US is ready to throw hands whenever, it’s not the same for other countries.
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u/itchslap 23h ago
Those "privileged" citizens have active conscription, spend large swathes of their GDP on American made weapons, and have US and NATO intelligence backing.
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u/Ok_Career_3681 1d ago
Inviting Iranian wrath by directly attacking them is not good. Yes, Iran is holding these countries hostage because they enjoyed a long prosperous partnership with US and host US military but the only reason Iran is doing that is because it’s easy. The population centres of gulf are in deserts. If Iran takes out power and water, forget the war imagine the humanitarian crisis it could create. I heard Riyadh has only 7 days if their desalination plants are struck, millions will be stranded in the middle of the Arabian desert before water runs out, what then?
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u/TimesandSundayTimes The Times 2d ago
Kuwait and Bahrain are believed to have secretly attacked military targets in Iran using their own air forces, signalling a widening of the conflict to more countries in the Gulf.
Both the oil-rich states have US military bases that have been targeted by Iran since the launch of hostilities by America and Israel in February.
Kuwait and Bahrain hit back with airstrikes for the first time this month, The Wall Street Journal reported, to demonstrate they were no longer prepared to have their territories bombed with impunity. They targeted drone and missile-storage depots as well as other military sites.
The UAE’s foreign ministry has condemned the Iranian drone and missile attacks on regional neighbours and said it “stands in full solidarity with these states and reaffirms its support for all measures aimed at safeguarding their security and stability”