Gulf allies urge Trump to keep war pressure on Iran until decisive shift

Body

Gulf allies of the United States, led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, are privately pressing President Donald Trump to continue the war against Iran, arguing Tehran has not been sufficiently weakened to justify ending the monthlong U.S.-led bombing campaign, according to U.S., Gulf and Israeli officials.

Officials said some regional governments began the war privately complaining they were not given adequate advance notice of the U.S.-Israeli attack and that their warnings about the conflict’s regional consequences were overlooked. Even so, the officials said Saudi Arabia, the UAE and other Gulf partners are now telling the White House that the moment offers a historic opportunity to cripple Iran’s clerical rule—provided the operation does not stop before Iran’s leadership or behavior changes.

Several Gulf officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly, said the countries do not want the military operation to end without significant changes in Iran’s leadership or a dramatic shift in Iranian behavior. The pressure comes as Trump has publicly vacillated between saying Iran’s decimated leadership is ready to settle and threatening to escalate further if a deal is not reached soon.

While the White House declined to comment on the Gulf deliberations, Secretary of State Marco Rubio underscored public alignment with the Gulf Arab partners on Monday. Speaking on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Rubio said, “They are religious zealots who can never be allowed to possess a nuclear weapon because they have an apocalyptic vision of the future,” and he added that “all of their neighbors know that, by the way, which is why all of their neighbors have been supportive of the efforts we’re conducting.”

The officials described a divide within the region, with Saudi Arabia and the UAE leading calls for increased military pressure on Tehran. One Gulf diplomat said the UAE has emerged as perhaps the most hawkish Gulf country and is pushing for Trump to order a ground invasion, while Kuwait and Bahrain also favor that option.

The diplomat said the UAE’s posture hardened as Iran’s attacks wore on. The reporting said the UAE has faced more than 2,300 missile and drone attacks from Iran and has become more irritated as the war grinds on and salvos threaten its image as a safe hub for trade and tourism. By contrast, the diplomat said Oman and Qatar—historically intermediaries between long-isolated Iran and the West—have favored a diplomatic solution.

According to the diplomat, Saudi Arabia has argued to the U.S. that ending the war now would not produce a “good deal” that guarantees security for Iran’s Arab neighbors. The reporting said Saudi officials want an eventual settlement that neutralizes Iran’s nuclear program, destroys its ballistic missile capabilities, ends Tehran’s support for proxy groups, and ensures the Strait of Hormuz cannot be effectively shut down in the future, noting that about 20% of the world’s oil flowed through the waterway before the conflict.

The reporting also described changes in Emirati rhetoric toward Iran. In a column published Monday by The National, a minister of state at the UAE’s Foreign Ministry, Noura Al Kaabi, wrote: “An Iranian regime that launches ballistic missiles at homes, weaponizes global trade and supports proxies is no longer an acceptable feature of the regional landscape.” She added, “We want a guarantee that this will never happen again.”

The pressure also has a stated rationale for Saudi leaders. The reporting said Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has told White House officials that further defanging of Iran’s military capabilities and clerical leadership serves the long-term interest of the Gulf region and beyond. It also said the Saudis remain sensitive to the risk that a longer conflict gives Iran more opportunities to strike Saudi energy infrastructure, described as the heartbeat of the kingdom’s oil-rich economy, even as the kingdom wants a political solution over time.

For their part, Iran’s foreign minister insisted early Tuesday that Tehran’s attacks on Gulf Arab states target only U.S. forces, despite assaults that the report said have hit civilian targets. In a post on X, Abbas Araghchi wrote, “Iran respects the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and considers it a brotherly nation,” and added, “Our operations are aimed at enemy aggressors who have no respect for Arabs or Iranians, nor can provide any security. … High time to eject U.S. forces.”

At the same time, Trump has sought to emphasize that most Gulf countries have stood with his administration as the U.S. prosecutes the war, while he has criticized NATO allies for not joining the fight. The report said Trump told reporters on Air Force One, “Saudi Arabia’s fighting back hard. Qatar is fighting back. UAE is fighting back. Kuwait’s fighting back. Bahrain’s fighting back,” and “They’re all fighting back.”

Even with the private pressure from Gulf governments, the report said Trump has not asked the Gulf states to join offensive operations. One factor, the reporting said, is that the administration may have calculated it was not worth the complications of adding more militaries over shared airspace beyond Israel. The report also cited early in the conflict: three American fighter jets downed by friendly Kuwaiti fire in the first days of fighting, with six crew members safely ejected from the F-15E Strike Eagles, and six American service members killed on March 12 when their KC-135 refueling aircraft crashed in western Iraq.

Another factor mentioned in the report was that only the UAE and Bahrain have formal diplomatic relations with Israel, adding complication for their calculus. But Iran has warned that it will attack its neighbors’ critical infrastructure, including desalination plants used to provide drinking water, if Trump follows through on threats to strike Iran’s power plants unless the Strait of Hormuz is opened by April 6.

Yasmine Farouk of the International Crisis Group said, “The absence of a clear objective, the absence of the trust that the United States is really going to go until the end and finish the jobs … it’s making some of them reluctant.” She added that “if there is a consequential or mass casualty (event) in one of those countries, then it would be justified for them to become a belligerent.”