With tensions mounting throughout the Middle East, Iran officials have threatened a more violent military retaliation if the United States attacks them once again, and lawmakers have started to call for a possible withdrawal from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
If the U.S. launched an attack again, it would result in retaliation from Iranian forces, which could come back with “astonishing” weapons, Iranian officials have said. Meanwhile, Iran lawmakers have presented a parliamentary bill that calls for Iran’s exit from the NPT. Additionally, Iranian legislators have publicly discussed the need to rethink some components of Iran’s nuclear policy, but no official change to Iran’s nuclear doctrine has been announced.
Things have also deteriorated in Yemen, with four people reportedly killed and three injured in the Al-Jawf province after the attacks. Saudi Arabia was blamed for the strikes by the Houthi media arm, SABA, which said that the attacks had been against telecommunications facilities. Said authorities weren’t immediately reacting to the report.
Meanwhile, the security of maritime traffic is at high levels around the Strait of Hormuz. Tracking data revealed few commercial ships entered the strategic waterway last weekend, compared to about 125 big commercial ships just a day before the war broke out. As tensions between Iran and the US continue, “visible traffic” has declined sharply, Reuters reported.
Qatar is urging the establishment of a wider regional security framework to avoid further escalation. Gulf nations require agreement that allows for respect of sovereignty and doesn’t enable one country to pose a threat to another, Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani said. He also said that the conflict had economic repercussions that were bearing down on the region.
The developments follow a pattern of the war’s evolution – with military military operations, naval turbulence and diplomatic efforts developing in parallel in the Gulf and wider Middle East while leaving everyone with a feeling of the next phase of the regional conflict still to come.