Amid Tehran's warnings, West Asian allies tell US & Israel to not use airspace for attack on Iran: Report

Amid warnings from Iran, the West Asian nations have told the United States and Israel to not use their airspace to attack Iran, according to a report.

Following Iran’s ballistic missile attack on Israel last week, an Israeli response is considered to be a just matter of time. The United States has said it supports Israel is levelling consequences on Iran for the attack, but has also stressed that the attack needs to be proportionate and should avoid nuclear sites and oil facilities.

West Asian nations, most of whom are US allies and partners, have told the United States that they don’t support their land or airspace being used for offensive operations against Iran, as per The Wall Street Journal.

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The newspaper reported that these states, comprising Jordan, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, conveyed this to the United States after Iran told them that if they were part of any attack on Iran, then Iran would also attack them in retaliation.

Even as these nations have been critical of Israel’s war efforts over the past year, they have directly joined the US and European efforts to help Israel fend off Iranian attacks. When Iran attacked Israel with more 600 rockets, missiles, and drones in April, Jordan and Saudi Arabia joined the United States, the United Kingdom, and France in helping Israel fend off the Iranian barrage. Similarly, Jordan joined the US, British, and French militaries in the defensive efforts last week as well.

Even though Jordan, Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Qatar, have told the United States they do not support their land, waters, or skies being used for attacks on Iran, they have said that they are okay with defensive operations in the region, according to the newspaper.

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West Asia concerned about escalation, oil trade disruption

Since early this year, a backchannel has developed between the United States and Iran via Arab nations.

During these backchannel talks, Iran has told West Asian nations that it would respond with devastating hits on Israel’s civilian infrastructure and would retaliate against any country in the region that facilitated the attacks, the WSJ quoted Arab officials as saying.

US officials confirmed this to the newspaper but added that the West Asian allies and partners have said they are okay with defensive operations.

The reason for such denial for offensive operations are the fear of escalation potentially leading to a war and oil trade getting disrupted — all of these nations are major oil and gas producers.

Israel may still attack but…

While Israel still has ways to conduct the attack, but there are certain difficulties in doing so with regional players’ new conditions.

While Israeli warplanes could reach Iran via Syria or Iraq, where the nations’ air defences are no defence for Israeli planes’ technology, there could be issues with aerial refuelling or warships supporting these planes as regional countries’ waters and airspace are out of bounds.

As for the nature of attack, while Israel has formally said that everything is on the table, including Iranian nuclear sites and oil facilities, The Jerusalem Post has reported Israeli sources as saying that the attack is expected to strike various kinds of military and intelligence establishments of Iran and not nuclear facilities.

Israel would not attack the Iran’s nuclear facilities as getting embroiled in a regional war is not what Israel wants, according to the newspaper.