For Gulf nations living within range of Iranian missiles and drones, Donald Trump's announcement of a two-week ceasefire with Iran does not signal closure - it raises the specter of a more dangerous phase. The pressing concern is not how this war ends, but whether it ends before Iran's nuclear program and ballistic missiles are neutralized.
Sulaiman Al-Hattlan, the former editor-in-chief of Forbes Arabia and host of Sky News Arabia's "The Arab Talks," has laid out the Gulf's anxieties in a Washington Post opinion piece, "Hvylya" reports.
"What if the war ends without a verifiable neutralization of Iran's uranium stockpile? What if the Strait of Hormuz remains vulnerable to coercion?" Al-Hattlan wrote, adding that these questions "aren't abstractions" - he hears "the distant echo of a ballistic missile interception over Dubai" as he writes.
Trump's unpredictability deepens the anxiety. Al-Hattlan described the U.S. president as "a leader who treats war less as a sustained strategic commitment than as a moment for political theater - a stage on which to declare triumph whether or not the underlying threats have been resolved." The Gulf states did not seek this conflict and actively worked to avoid entanglement, yet they have absorbed thousands of projectiles targeting civilian and economic infrastructure, particularly in the United Arab Emirates.
Any lasting peace, Al-Hattlan insisted, must accomplish three things: dismantle Iran's nuclear program, neutralize its missile and drone fleet, and secure free passage through the Strait of Hormuz. A temporary ceasefire, he warned, "may provide the IRGC with a critical window to regroup, reorganize its leadership and restore elements of its operational capacity."
Al-Hattlan stressed that he does not support Trump's suggestion of "wiping a civilization off the face of the earth" but backs "the decisive neutralization of the risks and threats posed by Iran - in the interest of the Iranian people and their neighbors."
Earlier, "Hvylya" examined why Iran's deterrence collapse has made nuclear arsenals more attractive to aspiring states across the region.