The US and Israel have a considerable early advantage in the war in Iran. The first strike on the top members of the regime in Tehran was undoubtedly seismic, but the new leaders of Iran’s response might have made things even harder for themselves. Donald Trump shared that he inadvertently set up Iran against its own neighbors, but he’ll take whatever help he can get.
“We were surprised,” Trump reportedly told CNN’s Jake Tapper about the members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) fighting back “aggressively” against Iran. The GCC includes Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, which are all turning on Iran. The first thing to understand about this conflict is that while the current administration is speaking about the region in black-and-white terms — referring to one country as a terrorist regime and the other as an unassailable ally — they’re all complex humans with ever-shifting needs and alliances.
