Iranian drone, missile attacks on Gulf nations risk pulling more countries into war

Geoff Bennett:

The largest U.S. military base in the Middle East is in the small Gulf nation of Qatar.

And joining us from its capital, Doha, is special correspondent Leila Molana-Allen.

Leila, it's good to see you.

So you're in the Gulf right now. Based on your reporting, how are these attacks affecting countries across the region?

Leila Molana-Allen:

We have. We have come here just as many people are thinking about leaving as this conflict escalates.

This has been unprecedented for the Gulf nations. Hundreds of cruise and ballistic missiles, of drones have been launched at these countries by Iran. On the first day of the conflict. Nearly as many were fired at the UAE as were fired at Israel, the country that was attacking Iran. The calculation seems to have been that maybe the UAE is the most able to ask the United States to stop.

Now, at the moment, the missile defense systems here are doing a pretty good job of taking down those missiles. The drones are trickier. But the issue here is that what the Gulf nations have built is stability. That is their key. And Iran doesn't have to destroy these countries. It just has to pierce that stability to stop their success.

The second issue, of course, is they built it on wealth. Now, already with those missile defense systems spending huge amounts of money, but also attacks on tourism, on hotels, on airports, and the stopping of three of the largest traffic airports in the world for almost a week now in the Gulf at a cost of over a billion dollars.

Now, the initial reaction, of course, is anger at Iran. Yesterday, Iran's foreign minister called the Qatari foreign minister, saying that, we are not attacking the Gulf. We're just attacking the American presence there. The Qatari foreign minister responded, that was completely untrue. They're dragging the Gulf into a war that is not their own.

And even though the Gulf has always been neutral thus far, he said these attacks cannot go unanswered. Now, that would be a huge change in the stance of the Gulf nations if they decide not to be neutral anymore. But the longer-term issue here is these U.S. bases.

Now, thus far, Gulf nations have hosted U.S. bases because they seem to believe they will get defensive capability from the U.S. in return. The issue, of course, is that in the past few years with the reduction of the military presence in the Gulf, already they were starting to feel maybe that wouldn't happen.

And last year in 2025, with the attack on Hamas operatives inside Doha, that was seen as an absolute crossing of the line. So that would be another huge strategic shift in the region if they stop hosting those bases.

Geoff Bennett:

And, Leila, we know communication with Iran is extremely difficult right now, but I understand you have managed to reach some people there. What are they telling you about how this war is affecting daily life?

Leila Molana-Allen:

It is incredibly hard to reach anyone inside Iran.

What they are saying when you manage to get through to them in moments of connectivity is that the streets are completely empty. People are just staying inside, absolutely terrified. They say the bombing is terrifying. It's constant. It's everywhere.

Some people have thought about trying to move in Tehran to the north of the city, this great Tehran region of over 16 million people, but they haven't got any petrol, and the roads are completely packed. So, many are just staying put inside their houses.

Now, while Israel and the United States say that they are only attacking military and government infrastructure, that simply isn't reflected in the number of civilian deaths we're seeing. In these densely populated areas, like the capital, many people live right next to these government buildings, and their homes are taken out when those strikes hit.

And it's so important to remember that in Iran no one has access to any air raid sirens, to any shelters, and they don't have any missile defense capabilities, which were all knocked out last year. So Iranian civilians are completely defenseless.

And the other issue they're facing, of course, is that they don't have any communication. The Internet's completely down. Phone lines are completely down.

Geoff Bennett:

Leila Molana-Allen in Doha for us tonight.

Leila, thank you.