Jewish World Update Jul/Aug 2026
Could a New Middle East Order Emerge Post-War?
by Nicole Jansezian
(All Israel News)—Tehran’s aggression against Gulf nations—including the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and even Qatar—is likely to create a postwar, anti-Iran coalition that places Israel as a key ally, according to one analyst.
“Iranian behavior is driving everyone in the region closer to Israel,” said former Trump administration envoy Jason Greenblatt. “My personal belief is that these countries have always understood who the real threat is.”
The Gulf states are concluding that “the Iranian regime has to be finished or it would remain a long-term threat to everything that they’re trying to do,” Greenblatt said. “They’ve seen what the regime has done throughout the Middle East. They all know that Israel is not a threat to them. They all know that Israel could be a phenomenal partner to them, hence the Abraham Accords.”
Greenblatt believes that even realignment with Qatar is possible. “They, too, understand . . . the threat that Hamas and the Iranian regime are to everything they are building,” he said.
While these nations most likely wanted to avoid this conflict in the first place, the Gulf states now have taken a more belligerent position against the Islamic Republic. In March, officials from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait, and Bahrain privately urged U.S. President Donald Trump to continue the war until Iran could no longer pose a threat in the region.
UAE Ambassador to the U.S. Yousef Al Otaiba took a hardline stance against the regime, calling for “a conclusive outcome that addresses Iran’s full range of threats: nuclear capabilities, missiles, drones, terror proxies, and blockades of international sea lanes.” Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman also pressed Trump to continue fighting the regime, lest a premature ending leave an angry Iran with continuing regional influence.
Former Dubai Police Chief Dhahi Khalfan Tamim—who previously criticized the Jewish state—set off a firestorm on social media, calling for closer ties with the West and Israel. “This war has proven that western countries are the friendly countries . . . and that those we call sister countries . . . are actually separate from us,” he wrote, adding, “Oh, people of the Arabian Gulf, put trust in Israel.”
Editor-in-Chief of Arab Times Ahmed Al-Jarallah placed full responsibility on Iran for the escalation. “The idea that the Gulf states brought Israel into the situation is a gross oversimplification,” he said. “The real escalation began with Iranian rhetoric, as Tehran raised the stakes of its threats, highlighted its cross-border military capabilities, and promoted its controversial nuclear program while repeatedly obstructing international monitoring efforts.”
Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit told the United Nations that Iranian attacks on Gulf states “cannot be accepted or justified under any pretext or claim.”
As one of the original architects of the Abraham Accords, Greenblatt believes postwar defense and economic agreements could emerge; and normalization with Israel will deepen. Saudi Arabia will join in some way, “even if it’s not a full-blown Abraham Accords,” he predicted. “I think they recognize that Israel as a partner and, therefore, some formula of the Abraham Accords benefits everybody.”
Greenblatt said that from a tactical perspective, these countries must consider their own futures vis-à-vis all potential scenarios of a current Iranian regime that is weakened or a successive regime that is similar. Qatar can continue to support the Palestinians—not Hamas, Greenblatt clarified—while redefining its rocky relationship with Israel.
“This would be another benefit of what the Iranian regime has done, which is to realign countries like Qatar and others who, I wouldn’t say are anti-Israel, but maybe they’ll be more pro-Israel in the coming period of time because they see who the real enemy is.”
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