Iran has demonstrated its intention to extend the conflict with the United States and Israel and considers it legitimate to attack all those who assist its enemies. All the countries of the Persian Gulf are in the spotlight. Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, United Arab Emirates and even Oman. But there have also been attacks in Türkiye or Cyprus.
The Iranian offensive on different fronts responds, according to the analysis of the journalist and expert in the Arab world Ignacio Cembrero, to a strategy. “All this responds to a very clear logic on the part of the Iranian authorities,” he maintains, and that logic involves “expanding the war to as many countries as possible, creating absolute chaos in the area.”
Tehran would seek to generate regional instability of such magnitude that it ends up turning against the United States. In particular, affecting the Gulf countries. “The Gulf countries, all of them greatly affected by the war, because they cannot export their hydrocarbons, because there are not even flights,” he explains.
The closure of airspace and the interruption of energy exports directly impact economies such as Qatar or the United Arab Emirates. According to Cembrero, the Iranian intention would be for these countries to pressure Washington to force an end to the offensive. “That they end up putting pressure on the United States to finally stop these attacks and also that the United States in turn put pressure on Israel,” he summarizes.
For the Iranian regime, the conflict has an existential character. “It is a life or death battle for the Iranian regime and it is putting all its weight on the table,” he says. Although he recognizes the military superiority of the United States and Israel, he warns that as long as it retains operational capacity, Iran will continue trying to expand the radius of the conflict: “As long as they have drones and ballistic missiles left, they will be able to continue doing a lot of damage in their environment.”
Foreign Affairs condemns attacks on Türkiye and Azerbaijan
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation has “strongly” condemned the new attacks by Iran that have been registered in recent hours in Turkey, Azerbaijan and countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council, such as Qatar, where “we must regret” eight injured.
It did so through a statement after Turkey announced the downing by NATO air defense systems of a ballistic missile fired from Iran that was “headed toward its airspace” after flying over Iraq and Syria.
However, the General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces has refused to be behind this attack and has expressed its respect for the sovereignty of Turkey, described as a “friendly” country, in a brief note collected by the Iranian news agencies Mehr and IRNA, without giving further details.
