Alex Ritson

And so the Arabs are going to be watching very carefully and taking whatever measures they can to prevent the conflict from destabilizing the wider region.

And the Iranians had expressed skepticism all along.

And even now, when the attacks took place, said, look, we expected there would be attacks.

You've attacked us before during negotiations, but we went along with them anyway.

And so they were making preparations as well.

having very little faith in the whole negotiating process.

But the Omanis who were mediating did pull out all the stops, the Omani foreign minister having gone to the United States on a sudden trip this week to try to urge the administration to continue with the negotiations and saying that they were making significant progress.

He called it a breakthrough.

He said that the Iranians had agreed that they would move all the stockpiles of enriched uranium out of the country, that this was a really important

move and that it could be built on over a period of time to actually get an agreement.

Again, that intervention failed.

The planning for this military operation has clearly been in place for some time.

And now President Trump has decided to go ahead with the aim of regime change, which is, frankly, the most drastic outcome that could have been the case.

There was questions about what an Israeli

a U.S.

military operation might involve?

Would it be limited strikes to kind of force the Iranians further along in the negotiations?

Would it be strikes on just military targets like the ballistic missiles sites, the nuclear sites?

But no, Mr. Trump has made it clear that they're going further than that.

And again, that is a source of concern for the Arab neighbors and the Arabs in the Gulf, because who knows what will come afterwards and whether they will be subject to