US strikes on Iran came after anger from Gulf states over Tehran’s attacks — Fox News

The US strikes on an Iranian port city and an island in the Strait of Hormuz came following anger from the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia over Iranian attacks on the UAE, which US officials had downplayed, according to a Fox News reporter.

Iran shot more than a dozen missiles at the UAE on Monday amid an American operation to open up the strait, a key pathway for the global oil supply that Iran has blocked. On Tuesday, US officials said that the Iranian strikes did not mean the current ceasefire had ended.

That statement sparked anger in the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Fox reporter Jennifer Griffin posts on X, writing that Riyadh subsequently withdrew permission for the US to use its bases and airspace for the Hormuz operation. That permission has since been restored, she writes, citing a senior US official.

“The strike on one of Iran’s oil ports comes two days after Iran fired 15 ballistic and cruise missiles at UAE Fujairah Port, eliciting anger from Gulf countries after top Pentagon leaders said Tuesday that the Iranian strikes did not rise to the level of breaking the ceasefire, calling it low level attacks that didn’t rise to that level,” Griffin writes.

“[T]the Saudis and Kuwaitis abruptly halted permission for the US to use its bases and air space for Project Freedom, a decision that this official said has been reversed. Saudi officials reportedly were angry at the Pentagon downplaying the Iranian strikes on Monday,” she writes.