GCC

The US-Iran conflcit has now become truly a crisis which is engulfing the entire Middle East. The options open to the US appear to be narrowing. And in the absence of a strategy, what we see is a daily knee-jerk reaction, in the form of daily bombardments or Iran. US ally, Israel, in the meantime continues with military operations in Lebanon, Gaza, and the West Bank. Iran is retaliating with atttacks on Arab countries. the latest target being Egypt. Iran's allies in Yemen and Iraq are also weighing in. Iran appears to have regained its balance, after the killing of the Supreme Leader on 28 February. Apart from Iran and Israel, the conflict has now engulfed the six GCC countries (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, UAE, Qatar and Oman), as well as Yemen, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Palestine. With the conflict now entering its sixth month, and expanding, the consequences are huge, and not as Donald Trump expected when he capricously launched it.