Gulf States Quietly Tilt Toward U.S. as Iran Attacks Escalate

Saudi Arabia and several Gulf monarchies are making concrete moves toward tighter alignment with Washington as Iranian missile and drone attacks intensify, chipping away at years of hedging between the U.S. and Tehran. Fox News, citing people familiar with the matter and prior Wall Street Journal reporting, says Riyadh has agreed to grant U.S. forces access to King Fahd Air Base in Taif — a deep‑inland facility not used for American combat operations since the Gulf War — to add strategic depth beyond more exposed Gulf‑coast hubs. The United Arab Emirates has severed diplomatic relations with Iran, shuttered Iranian‑linked institutions and launched a crackdown on networks tied to the IRGC, while Bahrain led a UN Security Council resolution condemning Iranian strikes and Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Kuwait issued coordinated statements denouncing Tehran’s attacks and asserting a right to self‑defense. Qatar, which has often played mediator, expelled Iranian military and security attachés after strikes on energy infrastructure yet kept full diplomatic ties and sent its prime minister to Washington for talks on defense and energy‑infrastructure security. A Gulf official told Fox the states broadly agree Iran’s missile program, uranium enrichment and proxy activity must be curbed, but they still oppose U.S. strikes on Iranian critical infrastructure, underscoring how Iran’s aggression is nudging them back under the American security umbrella without full endorsement of Trump’s war plans.