Iran sets condition to halt strikes on Gulf neighbours

[Deeq A.]

Tehran (Somalia Today) – Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian on Saturday vowed to halt strikes on neighbouring Arab states, provided they do not allow the United States to launch attacks from their territory, as US President Donald Trump demanded Tehran’s “unconditional surrender”.

Meanwhile, the US-Israeli military campaign against the Islamic Republic entered its eighth day, driving an unprecedented regional escalation and threatening global energy markets.

The conflict erupted with a massive joint bombing campaign on February 28.

Since then, it has fundamentally reshaped the Middle East’s geopolitical landscape, killing Iran’s supreme leader and several senior officials.

‘Complete destruction’

On Saturday, Trump used his Truth Social platform to issue a maximalist ultimatum.

“Today Iran will be hit very hard!” Trump wrote.

He warned that areas and groups “not considered for targeting up until this moment” now faced “complete destruction and certain death” because of Iran’s behaviour.

The US president also claimed the American military had “knocked out” 42 Iranian warships in just three days of concentrated strikes.

An Iranian army spokesman quickly responded, warning that any “enemy” vessels entering the Persian Gulf would end up “at the bottom of the sea”.

Trump later doubled down during an address at the “Shield of the Americas” summit in Doral, Florida.

There, he formally ruled out any diplomatic deal with Tehran and called for its immediate capitulation.

In Tehran, however, Pezeshkian forcefully rejected the ultimatum.

“That we surrender unconditionally is a dream that they must take with themselves to the grave,” Pezeshkian said in remarks carried by state media.

“What we adhere to are international laws and humanitarian frameworks,” he added.

Conditional halt

An interim leadership council has taken control of the fractured Iranian state following the death of the supreme leader.

Pezeshkian said the council approved a motion on Friday to halt attacks on neighbouring Arab nations.

He also offered a rare apology for the barrage of missiles and drones that crossed Arab airspace, blaming the strikes on “miscommunication in the ranks”.

But Pezeshkian also set a strict geopolitical condition.

He said Arab neighbours would be spared only if their territory is not used as a launchpad for further US or Israeli offensives.

He later clarified on X that Tehran had not intentionally targeted its neighbours.

Instead, he said, Iran had targeted the heavy American military footprint within their borders.

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations — Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Oman — all host major US strategic assets.

Washington maintains thousands of troops across the region and relies heavily on the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet in Bahrain and the sprawling Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.

Iraq, Jordan, Azerbaijan, and Turkey have also come into the crosshairs.

In the United Arab Emirates alone, retaliatory strikes have killed three people and injured nearly 80.

At the same time, the US embassy in Jordan and diplomatic posts in Qatar and Bahrain have carried out emergency evacuations as the security situation worsens.

In response to the tension, Saudi Arabia on Saturday warned Iran against engaging in “misguided calculations”.

Russian President Vladimir Putin also stepped in diplomatically.

He held a phone call with Pezeshkian to express condolences over the deaths of Iran’s supreme leader and senior officials, while also urging an immediate end to hostilities.

IRGC in charge

Despite Pezeshkian’s diplomatic overtures, regional analysts warn that the moderate president has little influence over Iran’s strategic military decisions.

Instead, power remains firmly in the hands of the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

The powerful paramilitary force operates independently of the regular army.

“The IRGC is now in charge fully, and they will decide whether to attack or not,” Al Jazeera analyst Resul Serdar said.

He noted that IRGC commanders wield immense power in what they see as a war of survival, leaving civilian politicians with virtually no influence.

The IRGC issued its own stark warning on Saturday, reinforcing Pezeshkian’s condition.

“Should the previous hostile actions continue, all military bases and interests of criminal America and the fake Zionist regime on land, at sea, and in the air across the region will be considered primary targets,” state media quoted an IRGC statement as saying.

It warned that they would face “crushing strikes” by the armed forces.

Mounting death toll

The human cost of the eight-day war is staggering.

Iran’s UN Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani said Saturday that 1,332 Iranian civilians, including women and children, have been killed.

He accused the United States and Israel of deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure.

The only American fatalities came when an Iranian drone struck a US command centre in Kuwait, killing six soldiers.

Meanwhile, the threat of a multi-front war is growing.

Iranian Kurdish rebel factions based in northern Iraq have indicated that it is “highly likely” they will launch a cross-border ground offensive into Iran.

That threat, in turn, prompted the Iraqi government to declare that its territory “must not be used as a launching point” for attacks against neighbouring countries.

Economic turmoil

The spiralling conflict threatens to choke off one of the world’s most vital economic arteries.

The Strait of Hormuz handles the transit of roughly a fifth of the world’s daily oil consumption.

Across the Gulf, the conflict has caused deaths, damage, major disruption to flights, and a heavy knock-on impact on oil and gas production.

Against that backdrop, Qatar’s Energy Minister Saad al-Kaabi warned that Gulf energy exports could come to a complete halt “within weeks”.

In an interview with the Financial Times, al-Kaabi painted a grim picture of the global economic fallout.

“Everybody’s energy price is going to go higher,” he warned.

“There will be shortages of some products, and there will be a chain reaction of factories that cannot supply.”

He stressed that a prolonged conflict would severely affect global economic growth.

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