Iran warns Gulf allies of retaliation as Trump dials back strike threat, presses for a deal

Iran has cautioned Gulf states that a new U.S. strike on its territory would draw retaliation against critical energy infrastructure across the region, five sources told Reuters, as Tehran tries to raise the cost of military action by targeting Washington's closest regional partners with its threats.

The warning went out through a wave of high-level diplomatic contacts after President Donald Trump threatened on July 28 to hit Iran's energy network and infrastructure, the sources said.

Also read: US and Iran having 'very good discussions', Trump says


Two senior Iranian officials, two Gulf sources and a senior regional diplomat familiar with the discussions said Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi spoke separately with his Saudi, Turkish and Qatari counterparts, as well as Pakistan's army chief. All spoke on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the matter.

Araqchi pressed Washington's Gulf allies to use their influence with Trump to head off renewed strikes, the senior diplomat said, warning that any attack on Iran would draw retaliation against U.S. assets and Gulf energy facilities. The diplomat said Araqchi's message stayed the same across every call: Iran is ready to retaliate, but a diplomatic resolution remains the best route to avoiding wider destruction in the region. One Gulf source put it plainly, Iran's warning was that any American strike on its infrastructure would be answered with strikes on Gulf energy facilities and other regional targets.

The diplomatic push illustrates how Iran is using the threat of broader regional fallout as leverage against further U.S. action, leaving Gulf states, which host American bases and rely heavily on energy exports, caught between Washington and Tehran.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman later spoke directly with Trump, pushing him to hold off on military action, return to negotiations, secure a ceasefire and pursue a diplomatic path, according to the senior diplomat and Gulf sources.

Another Gulf source said the warning was meant for every Gulf state but was passed along mainly through Saudi Arabia and Qatar, reflecting how much Iran's ties with Riyadh, once its regional rival, have improved in recent years. Qatar, Oman and Saudi Arabia have all pushed Washington to resume talks with Tehran and avoid a fresh conflict, with a second Iranian official warning that renewed U.S. strikes could set the whole region ablaze.

On August 2, Trump said he'd agreed to call off the planned attack, conditional on being able to reach a deal quickly.

"Threats of wider regional escalation," says Iranian official

The first Gulf source said Riyadh's view is that further escalation would only cause more destruction, which is why it pushed Trump to give diplomacy a chance. Even while urging Washington toward talks, Saudi Arabia made clear it would defend itself, the second Gulf source said Riyadh warned that any attack on its own territory would draw a military response.

Ali Shihabi, a Saudi analyst close to the Royal Court, said the kingdom doesn't believe further escalation would achieve much, and that a combination of measured military responses alongside continued pressure on Iran in the Strait of Hormuz offers a more realistic path toward a workable diplomatic settlement.

Also read: Iran and the US say a Strait of Hormuz deal is close, but one or both would have to back down

Iran's clerical leadership has repeatedly called for the closure of U.S. bases in the Gulf and pressed Gulf Arab states to stop sharing intelligence with Washington, cooperation Tehran believes has enabled strikes against it. One Iranian official said Tehran's warning specifically flagged energy facilities, refineries, power grids, water infrastructure, transport networks and oilfields across the Gulf as targets should a new U.S. strike occur, adding that any damage to Iran would be answered with far greater damage in return — and pointing to the 2019 Abqaiq-Khurais attacks on Saudi Aramco, which briefly cut more than half the kingdom's crude output, as a reminder of how exposed Gulf energy infrastructure remains.

By threatening infrastructure that Gulf economies depend on, Tehran appears to be trying to convince both Washington and its Arab neighbours that another strike on Iran would carry costs too high to bear, pushing regional governments to lean on Trump against renewed military action.

From Tehran's vantage point, the senior Iranian official said, Trump is left choosing between two bad outcomes: escalating a conflict that could pull in the whole Gulf and disrupt global energy supplies, or settling for a negotiated outcome short of the decisive win Washington has been chasing. The senior regional diplomat said one of the biggest obstacles to a deal remains Washington's reluctance to let Iran walk away appearing to have won anything, the U.S., the diplomat said, wants something it can point to as proof it won the war.

With inputs from Reuters