Why Arab leaders are quietly backing U.S. strikes on Iran despite public condemnation

If Iran had hoped its neighbors would rise to its defense in the wake of unprecedented American and Israeli attacks, that moment may have passed.

TEL AVIV — If Iran had hoped its neighbors would rise to its defense in the wake of unprecedented American and Israeli attacks, that moment may have passed.

On Monday, Iran fired back at the U.S. with a strike on the American Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, in what is already being seen as merely a face-saving gesture. Qatar said it had intercepted the Iranian missiles and condemned the attack, calling it a violation of its sovereignty.

But even as Middle Eastern leaders were quick to criticize President Donald Trump’s paradigm-shifting assault on Iran following 10 days of Israeli bombardment, the American strikes are likely to be accepted — and even privately cheered — by an Arab officialdom that has long seen Shia Iran as the primary threat to regional stability.

“These countries are quietly delighted to see Iran cut down to size,” said Firas Maksad, the managing director for the Middle East and North Africa at the Eurasia Group. “But the primary objective is to guard against blowback targeting them.”

Statements from the governments of Turkey and Saudi Arabia, for example, have stopped short of condemning the U.S. attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities, instead only issuing expressions of concern over an expanding regional conflict.