Saudi Arabia, UAE struck Iran in retaliation for war attacks

Saudi Arabia carried out numerous, unpublicized strikes on Iran in late March, the first known time Riyadh has directly used military force on Iranian soil. The Saudi Foreign Ministry did not directly address whether strikes had been carried out, while Iran’s Foreign Ministry did not respond. One Western official described the Saudi action as “tit-for-tat strikes,” underscoring how far Gulf leaders have moved from quiet restraint toward covert retaliation.

The Emirati military also struck Iran, adding to the sense that Gulf capitals battered by Iranian attacks decided to answer force with force. The retaliation followed the opening of the war on February 28, 2026, when the U.S. and Israel launched airstrikes on Iran. From that point, Iran hit all six Gulf Cooperation Council states, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, with missiles and drones that struck U.S. military bases, civilian sites, airports and oil infrastructure.

The exchange exposed a hard shift in regional thinking. Saudi Arabia has traditionally relied on the U.S. military for protection, but the 10-week war showed how vulnerable the kingdom remained when Iranian weapons pierced the American security umbrella. For Gulf rulers, the lesson was not only that deterrence had failed, but that waiting on Washington carried its own risk. That helps explain why Saudi Arabia and the UAE would take the political and operational risk of covert action now: they were signaling that attacks on Gulf territory would bring costs, even if the response had to stay off the record.

The wider danger is that the war’s logic still points outward. Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz disrupted global trade and raised the stakes for energy markets far beyond the Gulf. Carnegie Endowment analysis said all six GCC states activated national air-defense capabilities with U.S. and other allied support, while Atlantic Council analysis said Gulf states had previously leaned on mediation, diplomacy and economic ties to manage tensions with Iran. Those tools look less reliable after this war, especially with the Gulf Cooperation Council still lacking a seat at the table shaping the region’s security future. Expanded Iranian attacks, possible Houthi involvement, and fractures within the GCC could all widen the conflict and pull Washington back into a fight it cannot easily leave behind.