RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 3 sourcesThe war has spread across the Middle East, with unprecedented disruption to global oil supplies and Gulf states being targeted by Tehran. Maira Butt looks at how the war has dragged in countries on several continents
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W ar has spread across the Middle East, threatening to become a regional conflict as fighting between the US and Iran enters its sixth month.
Ever since US-Israeli strikes took out supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on 28 February, several countries have been affected by Iranian retaliatory strikes across the Gulf. Meanwhile, a US and Iranian blockade in the Strait of Hormuz has led to disruptions in supply chains that have impacted the global economy.
After an intense period of fighting in March and April, the war entered a stalemate with a tenuous ceasefire agreed that collapsed earlier this month following disagreement over the Strait of Hormuz.
Despite claiming diplomacy was ongoing, Donald Trump unleashed an expletive-laden rant on Wednesday promising to “beat the f****** s*** out” of Tehran after “surprise” missile attacks on US troops.
Below we look at all of the countries that have been drawn in by the conflict.
Military strikes have taken place across the Gulf after Iran launched retaliatory attacks on US bases in the region. Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia , Oman and the UAE have all been affected.
Desalination plants, oil refineries, ports, power plants, airports and US military sites have all been targeted. The United Arab Emirates appears to have been the hardest hit with almost 3,000 drones and missiles fired at the country by Iran since February.
The attacks have spilled over with international affects, with the Kuwait defence ministry reporting on Thursday that an Iranian attack had hit a building belonging to a Chinese company in northern Kuwait, killing a worker and inflicting significant damage.
In Bahrain, the IRGC claimed it had attacked an Amazon data centre on 21 July, a central location for Amazon Web Services in the country.
Saudi Arabia joined the conflict, with strikes on Iran-backed militias in Iraq on Wednesday. US Central Command said the strikes were against "Iran-aligned terrorists that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) directed to attack US forces and Saudi energy infrastructure".
Reports on Thursday suggested that Saudi’s GDP had dropped by 4.8 per cent as oil activity contracted amid the war. This was largely due to a 24.7 per cent drop in oil activity.
Oman has played a significant role in negotiations alongside Pakistan. Muscat proposed a new Gulf-backed deal to impose a “voluntary fee” on vessels passing through the waterway.
Attacks have also affected Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon , Yemen, Syria and now potentially Egypt .
On Thursday, Egypt confirmed that a drone had caused a fire that engulfed two gas vessels at Egypt’s Mediterranean port of Damietta, the Egyptian cabinet said, confirming that a blaze that had erupted a day earlier was the result of an attack.
While no party has claimed responsibility for the incident, it marks a potential new front for the war, occurring near the Suez Canal, the last safe evacuation route for Saudi oil to global markets.
Jordan’s air defences shot down five missiles launched from Iran on Thursday, the country’s state media agency reported.
The deadliest fighting has occurred in Lebanon, where over 4,300 people have been killed in Israeli strikes. Israel says it is targeting Hezbollah in the south, and after negotiations has agreed to return control of occupied territory to the Lebanese army in exchange for restrictions on Hezbollah.
Yemen has also entered the fray with the Houthis threatening a maritime blockade in the Red Sea, which would significantly cripple Saudi oil exports. Saudi Arabia and the Houthis exchanged strikes on 25 July, with the Houthis now proposing a voluntary fee in the Strait of Hormuz.
On 5 March, Azerbaijan accused Iran of carrying out a drone strike on its territory.
President Ilham Aliyev blamed the country for carrying out “a groundless act of terror and aggression,” and said his military has been told to prepare and implement retaliatory measures.
Iran’s general staff of the armed forces denied it had launched a drone toward Azerbaijan’s territory.
Reports also suggested that missiles had been launched by Iran towards Turkey on 4 March, claims the Islamic Republic has denied.
A second ballistic missile was shot down by Nato air defences in Turkish airspace on 9 March with no casualties reported.
Other countries have also been impacted indirectly including a Thai-flagged cargo ship in Hormuz and the deaths of at least 17 sailors, who have been predominantly Indian in the water. India cut off trade completely in the Strait in the aftermath of the deaths.
China has been accused of assisting Iran with satellite images and remains the key purchaser of Iranian oil exports.
Nato and European countries have condemned Iranian attacks and called for a diplomatic solution.
The war expanded significantly after Tehran accused Ukraine attacking one of its vessels in the Caspian Sea.
Russia released a statement stoking the flames, with Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov saying: “This threat must be neutralised and definitively destroyed.”
The ministry summoned Ukraine's chargé d'affaires in Tehran to protest what it described as a "hostile and criminal" attack, according to state news agency IRNA.
The UK confirmed that strikes hit the RAF Akrotiri air base, targeting its runway, on 1 March and on 2 March, it confirmed that a further two drones had been intercepted. In response, Britain sent a warship and helicopters with counter-drone technology to defend the base.
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