The Gulf’s delicate balancing act between the US and Iran is now in flames

As Israel and the US continued to bomb Iran after killing the country’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei, Iran lashed out at its neighbours. Among the targets of Iranian drone strikes were a hotel in Dubai, a port in Oman, gas facilities in Qatar, and multiple US bases and embassies in the region, including in the Saudi Arabian capital, Riyadh.

Saudi Arabia and Iran have a long and bitter rivalry. Yet, in recent years, the Saudis had begun building new diplomatic relationship with Iran, even as they and other Gulf states continued to host American military bases, and court American investment.

Now the Gulf states find themselves in the middle of the very regional conflict many of its leaders hoped to avoid. It’s one which threatens longstanding efforts to cement the Gulf as a hub for finance, travel and tourism, and as an oasis of security.

In today’s episode of The Conversation Weekly podcast, we speak to Simon Mabon, a professor of international relations at Lancaster University in the UK and expert in Saudi-Iran relations, about how the Gulf’s delicate balancing act between the US and Iran came toppling down.

Mabon says that in recent years, Gulf states realised they had to live alongside Iran. “You can’t do that without having regional stability. And the only way you could get regional stability is to integrate Iran in some way, shape, or form,” says Mabon.

But after the US-Israeli war on Iran, and Iran’s retaliation against its neighbours, Mabon thinks it will be very difficult “to rebuild the sort of trust that had been cultivated over years between the Gulf Arab states and Iran”. That leaves big questions about how Gulf states, which may have advanced military hardware, but only small armies, ensure the security of their populations and their economies.

Listen to the interview with Simon Mabon on The Conversation Weekly podcast. This episode was written and produced by Mend Mariwany and Katie Flood. Mixing by Eleanor Brezzi and theme music by Neeta Sarl. Gemma Ware was the executive producer.

Newsclips in this episode from CNN, 60 minutes, euronews, BBC News, PBS NewsHour and WION.

Listen to The Conversation Weekly via any of the apps listed above, download it directly via our RSS feed or find out how else to listen here. A transcript of this episode is available via the Apple Podcasts or Spotify apps.

Simon Mabon receives funding from Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Henry Luce Foundation. He is affiliated with the Foreign Policy Centre.