REUTERS, Dubai

Gulf Arab states are telling the US that any deal with Tehran should do more than end the war, and must permanently curb Iran’s missile and drone capabilities and ensure global energy supplies are never again “weaponised”, four Gulf sources said.

TRUCE ‘ISN’T ENOUGH’

Gulf officials, whose countries have been repeatedly fired on by 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”, the sources said.

The officials want any deal to lock in enforceable restraints on missile and drone attacks on energy and civilian assets, threats to oil and shipping routes, and proxy warfare, the sources added. Any agreement must rewrite the rules of engagement by providing guarantees that the Strait of Hormuz is never again used as a tool of war and Gulf states must be written into the architecture of what comes next, they say.

SECURITY GUARANTEE

Abdulaziz Sager, chairman of the Saudi-based Gulf Research Center, said the Gulf states’ message to Washington was no longer implicit but explicit - that any agreement with Iran must directly address and guarantee the security of the Gulf states.”

That message was reinforced by the Gulf Cooperation Council, a group including Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman and the UAE, which has signalled a unified front against any settlement that sidelines Gulf security.