Why Iran's wartime behavior risks lasting rupture with Gulf states
Iran's rhetoric and policies toward Gulf states have sharply escalated, raising questions about whether years of painstaking regional rapprochement can survive mounting distrust and maritime confrontations.
TEHRAN — Amid renewed Gulf escalation over the past week, Iranian officials and media figures have adopted a markedly sharper tone toward some Arab states, accusing them of facilitating American and Israeli military actions during the recent conflict.
The harsh tone has coincided with fresh tensions in the Strait of Hormuz, diplomatic wrangling at the UN Security Council and growing concern in Tehran that some Gulf nations are drifting back into an anti-Iran security axis.
The shift is striking, as it comes after several years of cautious de-escalation between Tehran and its Arab neighbors. Since the China-brokered Iran-Saudi thaw in 2023, Iranian officials had repeatedly emphasized regional dialogue and "neighborly diplomacy" as pillars of Tehran's foreign policy.
Now, however, some voices within Iran's political establishment appear increasingly convinced that the war has exposed the limits to Tehran's friendship with its Gulf rivals — or even the possibility that those friendships were an illusion.
