Long at odds, Iran, a Shiite country, Saudi Arabia and the UAE — the two Sunni Muslim powers in the Middle East have backed opposing groups in conflicts across the region.
Saudi Arabia launched numerous, unpublicized strikes on Iran in retaliation for attacks carried out in the kingdom during the war, two Western officials briefed on the matter and two Iranian officials said.
The Saudi attacks, not previously reported, mark the first time that the kingdom is known to have directly carried out military action on Iranian soil and show it is becoming much bolder in defending itself against its main regional rival.
The attacks, launched by the Saudi Air Force, were assessed to have been carried out in late March, the two Western officials said. One said only that they were “tit-for-tat strikes in retaliation for when Saudi [Arabia] was hit.”
The UAE assault on Iran, which was undertaken as retaliation for Iranian attacks on its facilities, included a strike on Iran’s Lazan Island just before the 7 April ceasefire was announced, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The news is likely to make the UAE an even clearer target for Iran if the ceasefire is abandoned and the US and Iran restart the conflict. Donald Trump said on Monday the ceasefire was hanging by a thread due to Iran’s failure to make the concessions he is seeking over its nuclear programme.
In the earlier fighting that began on 28 February the UAE had been selected as a target for missile and drone strikes by Iran. It was disproportionately attacked partly due to the severe diplomatic hostility to Iran expressed by its rulers. The Wall Street Journal report gave details of how that diplomatic hostility extended to military hostility, pointing to images that allegedly showed French Mirage fighter jets and Chinese Wing Long drones (both used by the UAE) operating in Iran.
The UAE had hinted around that time that it wanted to mount reprisal operations, and not just defend its oil and port installations. Iran at the time also accused the UAE and Kuwait of being involved in the attacks.
Saudi Arabia, which has a deep military relationship with the United States, has traditionally relied on the US military for protection, but the 10-week war has left the kingdom vulnerable to attacks that have pierced the US military umbrella.
Since the war began, Iran has hit all six Gulf Cooperation Council states with missiles and drones, attacking not only US military bases but civilian sites, airports and oil infrastructure, and closed the Strait of Hormuz, disrupting global trade.
This marks the second Gulf country to join the United States and Israel in their war against the Islamic Republic, after it was reported that the United Arab Emirates also secretly carried out multiple military strikes on Iran.
Citing “people familiar with the matter,” Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that the UAE carried out strikes before and after the April 8 ceasefire.
One of the strikes — a response to the April 5 Iran attack on the Emirati Borouge petrochemicals site — was “coordinated” with Israel, Bloomberg said.
According to one source, the two cooperated on Israel’s attack on Iran’s South Pars petrochemical complex the next day.
Throughout the war, cooperation between the two countries included the sharing of intelligence, detection and interception of Iranian missiles and drones, and selecting Iranian targets, said the sources.
During the US-Israel war on Iran, Tehran launched sustained attacks on the UAE, firing some 550 ballistic and cruise missiles and more than 2,200 drones, according to the Emirati defense ministry, making it the most-targeted country in the region, including Israel.
The UAE has not acknowledged any offensive strikes, but has repeatedly stressed its right to defend itself.
The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week that the UAE had carried out an attack on Iran’s Lavan Island.
Israel sent an Iron Dome battery and soldiers to operate it to the UAE, American officials said this week, with Israel’s envoy later confirming this.
The UAE reported that likely Iranian attacks restarted over the past week in its territory, as Tehran appeared to be ramping up its strikes in the region despite the fragile ceasefire.
From more than 105 drone and missile attacks on Saudi Arabia in the week of March 25-31, the number fell to just over 25 between April 1-6, according to a Reuters tally of Saudi defense ministry statements.
Projectiles fired at Saudi Arabia in the days leading up to the wider ceasefire were assessed by Western sources to have originated in Iraq rather than Iran itself, indicating Tehran had curtailed direct strikes while allied groups continued to operate.
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