Smoke over Dubai: The desert metropolis is being targeted by Iran.Image: keystone
Tehran is no longer limiting itself to strikes against Israel and US bases. Now the conflict definitely threatens to spread across the entire region.
03/03/2026, 05:0503/03/2026, 05:08
After a good three days of renewed Middle East war, one thing is clear: the mullahs’ regime will not submit to its fate without a fight. Instead, the Iranian military continued and even expanded its counterattacks against targets across the Gulf region on Monday and Tuesday night. Recently there have been several reports of drone attacks on Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, and the US embassies in both countries were slightly hit.
The strategy seems to be clear: the drone and missile strikes are intended to inflict serious hits on the USA and Israel in order to persuade them to call off the military operation. These attacks are flanked by air strikes on civilian targets in the Gulf states, on shipping in the Persian Gulf and even on a holiday island in the Mediterranean.
A drone fell on the British military base in Cyprus.Image: keystone
There is a deep-seated psychological problem in the innermost leadership circle in Tehran, says Iran expert Beni Sabti from Tel Aviv. The now-killed leader Ali Khamenei and his advisors had the feeling until the end that they were the chosen ones and could bring back the Iranian empire.
“The entire leadership team consists only of radicals,” says Sabti, who comes from Iran.
“They really believe they can win and encourage themselves to do so.”
Even after the Ayatollah’s death and the heavy bombings, they were convinced of this.
It is against this background that the top Iranian security official’s rejection of Donald Trump over the weekend should be seen. Ali Larijani announced that he would not negotiate with the USA, despite Trump’s offer. “No talks,” it was said from Tehran. Instead, Iran is relying on escalation. An overview.
Cyprus and the Gulf States
“It sounded like a fast motorcycle,” is how residents of the Cypriot village of Akrotiri describe the incoming drone that hit the runway of the British military base in Cyprus shortly after midnight. The armed forces were put on “high alert”.
There was panic on the holiday island on Monday. It was the first time since the Turkish military invasion of 1974 that Cyprus was attacked from the air.
“Iran made a strategic decision to expand the attack,” said Eyal Hulata, former head of Israel’s National Security Council. Tehran not only targets targets in Israel and American bases in the region, but also fires missiles and drones at civilian targets and energy facilities in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain.
A dog sits at the main gate of Britain’s Akrotiri base in Cyprus following an Iranian drone strike in the early hours of the morning.Image: keystone
On Monday, the world’s largest liquefied natural gas terminal in Ras Laffan, Qatar, had to be temporarily closed following Iranian attacks. The refinery in Ras Tanura, Saudi Arabia, the largest on the Arabian Peninsula, also stopped production because parts of the plant caught fire after an Iranian missile attack.
The oil refinery in Ras Tanura, Saudi Arabia, had to stop production.Image: keystone
The scale of the missiles raining down on the Gulf states is surprising: “The United Arab Emirates recorded as many Iranian missile attacks as Israel on Saturday and Sunday,” says Hulata, who also served as the prime minister’s national security adviser in Jerusalem.
Iran hopes that these countries will put pressure on the USA to stop its attacks. The attack on Cyprus must also be seen in this context, says Hulata. However, the shot seems to have backfired so far:
“The attacked countries condemn Iran for this.”
But there is no doubt that the attacks on neighboring states by Iran are causing uncertainty in these countries. In addition to the attacks on military and political targets as well as the energy infrastructure, there were also explosions and damage in the desert metropolises of Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha.
Even though Dubai, one of the world’s most important air traffic hubs, has now announced that it wants to resume operations, thousands of tourists from all over the world are stuck and affected by the attacks.
This hits a sore point for the Iranians. The reputation of the supposedly safe and popular holiday destinations in the Gulf region is suffering – it cannot yet be estimated whether the attacks will have a long-term impact on tourism as an economic sector in the country.
Hezbollah gets in
Since Monday night, Iran is no longer fighting alone. The Shiite Hezbollah militia from Lebanon has entered the war and is firing rockets at Israel. “This is not unexpected,” says former security advisor Hulata.
“Iran created Hezbollah for moments like this.”
Over the past year, the Israeli army has inflicted heavy losses on Hezbollah. But the militia has apparently recovered at least partially – including with Iranian money. During the night, volleys of rockets and drones flew towards the Israeli city of Haifa. The projectiles were intercepted and initial reports were received proven wrong, Israel achieved the kills with its revolutionary new laser anti-aircraft system “Iron Beam”.
Israel immediately responded with a counterstrike against Hezbollah positions. The army killed several high-ranking officials, including Hezbollah intelligence chief Hussein Mukalled. The residents of around 50 towns in southern Lebanon were previously asked to leave the region. There were long traffic jams on the roads heading north.
And Hezbollah is not alone: The “Islamic Resistance in Iraq,” an alliance of pro-Iranian militias, said it launched 23 drone attacks on US bases in Iraq on Monday. The group said in a statement that dozens of drones had been used against “enemy bases” since the early hours of the morning.
In Iraq there were also several riots in front of the US embassy in the capital Baghdad.Image: keystone
The New York Times quoted two senior Iraqi defense officials as saying that U.S. air defenses intercepted the drones. The militias also claimed responsibility for a separate drone attack on Camp Victory at Baghdad Airport, where US soldiers are stationed. One of the drones is said to have landed on the grounds of a nearby Iraqi military facility.
Other militias, such as the Houthis in Yemen, could follow.
Other locations
The USA suffered a particularly serious setback not at the hands of Iran, but at the hands of an ally. As various videos showing a crashing fighter jet were circulating online, US Central Command confirmed on Monday morning that three F-15Es had been shot down by Kuwaiti air defense.
The six pilots and system officers involved were all able to save themselves using the ejection seat, the statement said. Further videos online showed how the US planes were rescued by civilians with a parachute after landing. In one case, a Kuwaiti is said to have attacked the pilot with an iron rod because he mistook him for an Iranian. However, the misunderstanding quickly cleared up.
The loss of three high-performance fighter jets when they were shot down on the same day is an unprecedented event for the USA since Operation Desert Storm in Iraq in 1991. U.S. Central Command announced an investigation, while Kuwait’s Defense Ministry said countermeasures had already been taken to prevent further friendly-fire incidents.
According to unconfirmed reports, the three F-15s were shot down by US-made Patriot missiles. For comparison: In the 12-Day War last year, the USA and Israel did not lose a single aircraft in combat. (aargauerzeitung.ch/con)