Gulf countries 'raging' they're 'collateral damage' in Trump's Iran bombing campaign [View all]

Source: Raw Story

March 3, 2026 4:00PM ET


Gulf countries targeted by Iran after the U.S. and Israel attacks were reportedly frustrated by the escalating regional conflict, an analyst revealed Tuesday.

CNN's political and national security analyst David Sanger described how Iran's objective is to put financial pressure on the countries allied with the United States and Israel in the fallout over the military strikes, all while midterm elections loom for President Donald Trump.

"Look, the Iranians have one big mission here: it's survive," Sanger said. "If they're going to survive, they have to wait out President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu. If they're going to wait out President Trump, it means they need to make it painful enough, long enough that he's beginning to get toward the elections.

You're beginning to see significant casualties. And it gets back to that question that Steve Witkoff, his chief envoy, asked about a week before the war broke out. During the negotiations, he said, 'The president is curious about why the Iranians haven't capitulated.' Well, the answer is that the whole meaning and purpose of the current Iranian state is to stand in opposition to the U.S., and so it's not as if, even with the loss of the Supreme Leader, that they're just going to say, 'well, this is over.'"

Read more: https://www.rawstory.com/iran-strikes/