Iran’s attack on Qatar’s al-Udeid Air Base in June 2025 interrupted its cautious de-escalation with Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states. GCC states will now have to negotiate the threat of the Israel-Iran ceasefire ending and the implications of further US involvement in the war with Iran.
On 23 June 2025, Iran launched a barrage of ballistic missiles against Qatar’s al-Udeid Air Base, home to the US Central Command Forward Headquarters, in response to strikes by the United States on Iran’s nuclear facilities. Although Iran insisted that the attack targeted US forces and not Qatar, the sight of intercepted ballistic missiles lighting up Doha’s night sky – which caused civilians in Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar to take shelter – has left its mark on the psyches of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) leaders and populations alike. The attack marked an unprecedented development in Iran’s relations with the GCC despite years of cautious de-escalation. Although Iran had attacked Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities using cruise missiles and uninhabited aerial vehicles (UAVs) in September 2019, those attacks were carried out covertly and out of sight of civilians, and were wrongly attributed to the Houthis at first.
The Iranian attack on Qatar prompted a display of GCC unity. Qatar, which was caught by surprise, as it did not expect to be the first hit, condemned the attack. Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Dr Majed al-Ansari said the country ‘reserves the right to respond directly’. In a call with the Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman reaffirmed that the Kingdom ‘deployed all its capabilities to support Qatar’. GCC foreign ministers held an emergency meeting in Doha the day after the attack, condemning it while reiterating their ‘full solidarity’ with Qatar. Despite years of rumoured tensions between Abu Dhabi and Riyadh, ‘the most important lesson of the past days and months’ was that GCC ‘unity is indispensable’ and ‘the source of our strength’, Emirati diplomatic adviser Dr Anwar Gargash commented on X one day after the attack.
No comments:
Post a Comment