Saudi Arabia launched covert attacks on Iran as regional war widened: sources

[RIYADH] Saudi Arabia launched numerous, unpublicised strikes on Iran in retaliation for attacks carried out in the kingdom during the Middle East war, two Western officials briefed on the matter and two Iranian officials said.

The Saudi attacks, not previously reported, mark the first time that the kingdom is known to have directly carried out military action on Iranian soil and show it is becoming much bolder in defending itself against its main regional rival.

The attacks, launched by the Saudi Air Force, were assessed to have been carried out in late March, the two Western officials said. One said only that they were “tit-for-tat strikes in retaliation for when Saudi (Arabia) was hit”.

Reuters was unable to confirm what the specific targets were.

In response to a request for comment, a senior Saudi foreign ministry official did not address directly whether strikes had been carried out.

The Iranian foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

Saudi Arabia, which has a deep military relationship with the US, has traditionally relied on US military for protection, but the 10-week war has left the kingdom vulnerable to attacks that have pierced the US military umbrella.

Gulf Arab states began hitting back

The Saudi strikes underscore the widening of the conflict, as well as the extent to which a war that began on Feb 28 – when US and Israel launched airstrikes on Iran – has drawn in the broader Middle East in ways that have not been publicly acknowledged.

Since the US and Israeli strikes, Iran has hit all six Gulf Cooperation Council states with missiles and drones, attacking not only US military bases but also civilian sites, airports and oil infrastructure. It has also closed the Strait of Hormuz, disrupting global trade.

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The United Arab Emirates also carried out military strikes on Iran, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday (May 11).

Together, the Saudi and Emirati actions reveal a conflict whose true shape has remained largely hidden, one in which Gulf monarchies battered by Iranian attacks began hitting back.

But their approach has not been identical.

The UAE has taken a more hawkish stance, seeking to extract a cost from Iran and engaging only rarely in public diplomacy with Teheran. 

Saudi Arabia has meanwhile sought to prevent the conflict from escalating and has stayed in regular contact with Iran, including via Teheran’s ambassador in Riyadh. He did not respond to a request for comment.

The senior Saudi foreign ministry official did not directly address whether a de-escalation agreement had been struck with Iran, but said: “We reaffirm Saudi Arabia’s consistent position advocating de-escalation, self-restraint and the reduction of tensions in pursuit of the stability, security and prosperity of the region and its people.”

Strikes, then de-escalation

The Iranian and Western officials said Saudi Arabia made Iran aware of the strikes and this was followed by intensive diplomatic engagement and Saudi threats to retaliate further, which led to an understanding between the two countries to de-escalate.

Ali Vaez, the Iran Project Director at the International Crisis Group, said retaliatory Saudi strikes on Iran, followed by an understanding to de-escalate, would “show pragmatic recognition on both sides that uncontrolled escalation carries unacceptable costs”.

Such a sequence of events would show “not trust, but a shared interest in imposing limits on confrontation before it spiraled into a wider regional conflict”.

The informal de-escalation took effect in the week before Washington and Teheran agreed to a ceasefire in their broader conflict on Apr 7.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

One of the Iranian officials confirmed that Teheran and Riyadh had agreed to de-escalate, saying the move aimed to “cease hostilities, safeguard mutual interests, and prevent the escalation of tensions”.

Long at odds, Iran and Saudi Arabia – the two leading Shi’ite and Sunni Muslim powers in the Middle East – have backed opposing groups in conflicts across the region.

A China-brokered detente in 2023 saw them resume ties, including a ceasefire between the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen and Saudi Arabia that has since held.

With the Red Sea remaining open to shipping, Saudi Arabia has been able to continue exporting oil throughout the conflict, unlike most Gulf states, and so has managed to remain relatively insulated.

“Furnace of destruction”

In an op-ed in Saudi-owned Arab News over the weekend, former Saudi intelligence chief Prince Turki al-Faisal captured the kingdom’s calculus.

He wrote that when Iran and others “tried to drag the kingdom into the furnace of destruction, our leadership chose to endure the pains caused by a neighbour in order to protect the lives and property of its citizens”.

Saudi Arabia’s strikes followed weeks of mounting tension.

At a press conference in Riyadh on Mar 19, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said the kingdom “reserved the right to take military actions if deemed necessary”.

Three days later, Saudi Arabia declared Iran’s military attache and four embassy staff members personae non gratae.

By the end of March, diplomatic contacts and the threat by Saudi Arabia to take a more hawkish approach akin to the UAE and retaliate further led to an understanding to de-escalate, the Western sources said.

From more than 105 drone and missile attacks on Saudi Arabia in the week of Mar 25 to 31, the number fell to just over 25 between Apr 1 and 6, a Reuters tally of Saudi defence ministry statements showed.

Projectiles fired at Saudi Arabia in the days leading up to the wider ceasefire were assessed by Western sources to have originated in Iraq rather than Iran itself, indicating Teheran had curtailed direct strikes while allied groups continued to operate.

Saudi Arabia summoned Iraq’s ambassador on Apr 12 to protest against attacks from Iraqi soil.

The Saudi-Iranian communication continued even as strains emerged at the start of the broader ceasefire between Iran and the US, when the Saudi defence ministry reported 31 drones and 16 missiles fired at the kingdom on Apr 7 and 8.

The spike prompted Riyadh to consider retaliation against Iran and Iraq, while Pakistan deployed fighter jets to reassure the kingdom and urged restraint as diplomacy gathered pace. REUTERS