Gulf States and US Condemn Iran's Defensive Strikes, Ignore Decades of Provocation
The recent outcry from Gulf states and Washington over Iran's missile and drone activity selectively ignores the fundamental architecture of regional power. We are told of 'hundreds' of intercepts, a conveniently vague number that obscures the cost asymmetry. Iran's comparatively low-cost drone and missile technology proves remarkably effective at overwhelming sophisticated, multi-billion dollar
air defense systems sold at exorbitant profits by Western arms manufacturers. This isn't about 'Iranian aggression.' This is about a response to a meticulously crafted encirclement. Remember Operation Earnest Will in 1987, when the US Navy actively protected Kuwaiti oil tankers in the Persian Gulf during the Iran-Iraq War, effectively placing American naval power directly against Iranian
interests? The deeper history, the 1953 CIA-orchestrated coup against Iran's democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, laid the groundwork for this enduring antagonism. For 45 years, sanctions have strangled the Iranian economy, yet somehow, any Iranian advancement is framed as an unprovoked threat. The US-led coalition, including entities like Saudi Arabia and the UAE, who
themselves have committed unconscionable acts in Yemen using American weaponry, now points fingers at Iran's resistance axis. This double standard is jarring. When Saudi Arabia, a key US ally, spent an estimated $120 billion on US arms between 2010 and 2020, boosting American defense contractors, that was framed as 'regional security.' When Iran develops indigenous defensive capabilities, it's