US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, Kuwait, and Bahrain are fully aligned with the United States in the ongoing war against Iran, declaring that “they are 100% on our side” as tensions continue to escalate. Speaking aboard Air Force One, Trump said the Gulf countries were initially “surprised” by Tehran’s missile and drone attacks as part of Iran’s retaliation against the US‑Israeli campaign but are now fighting back decisively. He also acknowledged that even Washington had been caught off guard by the scale and intensity of Iran’s strikes across the region.The US President said, “Saudi Arabia is fighting back. Qatar is fighting back. UAE is fighting back. Kuwait is fighting back. Bahrain is fighting back. They were surprised to be hit. I was very surprised when they got hit. And once they got hit they started fighting very well.”“Very strong communication with all of these countries and they go up on fighting 100% on our side”, he added.Trump’s comments come amid intense regional instability, with the war between the United States and Iran entering its fourth week, marked by escalating exchanges of fire, diplomatic efforts and economic disruption. Gulf Arab capitals — traditionally close US partners — have publicly condemned Iranian attacks on their territory and infrastructure after Tehran launched retaliatory strikes in response to US‑led air operations targeting Iranian military sites.Earlier, the US President had admitted being shocked by Iran’s retaliatory response targeting UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Suadi Arabia and Iraq, he had said “They (Iran) weren’t supposed to go after all these other countries in the Middle East. Nobody expected that. We were shocked.” He later repeated his astonishment, adding: “Nobody, nobody, no, no, no. The greatest experts, nobody thought they were going to hit.”The US–Israeli war on Iran has entered its fourth week, with hostilities spreading beyond initial targets to engulf key parts of the Middle East. Iranian drone and missile strikes have increasingly targeted US military positions, energy installations, aluminium plants, and allied infrastructure across the Gulf, raising concerns of a broader regional escalation. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) struck major aluminium production facilities in the UAE and Bahrain on Sunday, reportedly in retaliation for US and Israeli attacks on Iranian industrial sites, according to the BBC.Gulf officials, whose countries have repeatedly come under attack from Tehran during the US–Israeli war on Iran, have told Washington in private meetings that the Islamic Republic has left them no diplomatic “off-ramp,” sources told Reuters. The officials are seeking any agreement to include enforceable restrictions on missile and drone attacks against energy and civilian infrastructure, threats to oil and shipping routes, and limits on proxy warfare, the sources added.They also insist that any deal must rewrite the rules of engagement, providing guarantees that the Strait of Hormuz will never again be used as a tool of war, and that Gulf states are formally included in the architecture of future security arrangements, the officials said, as the attacks have disrupted energy and shipping routes, particularly around the strategic Strait of Hormuz, sending crude oil prices higher and prompting precautionary measures by Gulf ports.
