It’s not just US bases in the Gulf states that are being attacked by Iran:

Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Aragchi, has denied targeting his country’s neighbours, telling Al Jazeera: “We are not attacking our neighbours in the Persian Gulf countries, we are targeting the presence of the US in these countries. Neighbours should direct their grievances to the decision-makers of this war”.

Some of the damage to civilian infrastructure in the Gulf states is accidental – resulting from debris falling from intercepted missiles.

But not all.

The number of attacks on airports in Bahrain and the UAE point to more than coincidence.

Iran always made it clear in advance that, if it was attacked, it would retaliate at any country it considered to be complicit in that attack.

As one would imagine, the target states are not happy. Iran seems to want them to blame the US, but they’re not:

“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia expresses its rejection and condemnation in the strongest terms of the blatant and cowardly Iranian attacks that targeted the Riyadh Region and the Eastern Province, which were successfully intercepted. These attacks cannot be justified under any pretext,” the statement said.

This is not the first time Iran has attacked its Arab neighbours in the Gulf, either directly or indirectly, but never quite on this scale.

From where I sit – which is far, far away, and not privy to any special information – there’s been no great love lost between Iran and these countries even before these incidents. Although they’re all basically Muslim-majority states, Iran is a Shia country and the others are Sunni-majority countries with varying Shia populations, nations that have thrown their lot somewhat in with the US for years. If Iran’s decision to attack these countries seems counter-productive, it is probably nevertheless done because of a combination of pent-up anger (by an Iranian regime under great pressure), plus the notion that it might deter these states (or others) in the future from consorting with the US. If so, that doesn’t seem to have been a good bet:

The calls, led by the United Arab Emirates from inside the six-country Gulf Cooperation Council, are for the Arab states to act in self-defence against Iran, but it would be a huge step for Gulf leaders in effect to side with Israel in a war that will determine the future shape of the Middle East, probably to the advantage of Israel.

A video meeting of GCC foreign ministers on Sunday made no explicit reference to such a plan but stated the “option to respond to Iranian attacks” to protect regional security and stability remained on the table.

Iran had expended huge diplomatic effort in the past two years trying to convince the Gulf states that Israel, not Iran, is the chief destabilising force in the region, but much of that painstaking work in speeches, conferences, and diplomatic visits appears to have fallen apart in a matter of days.

The first article I linked and quoted is from the leftist BBC and the second is from the leftist Guardian. I don’t think it’s my imagination that both pieces seem more sympathetic to Iran than to any other country in the mix. But I don’t think Iran’s “huge diplomatic effort” was bearing fruit even before this; why would it?

I also wonder how much command and control is left in Iran. Who’s giving the orders? I don’t know, but these figures seem to be gone.