Summary

Saudi Arabia Secretly Launched Attacks On Iran At Height Of Epic Fury First it was revealed this week that UAE had directly attacked Iran in retaliatory strikes earlier in Operation Epic Fury, and now it has come to light that the Saudis did the same, and in multiple strike operations. Reuters reports Tuesday that "Saudi Arabia launched numerous, unpublicized 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 report continues. "The attacks, launched by the Saudi Air Force, were assessed to have been carried out in late March, the two Western officials said," Reuters notes further. One of the sources described this military actions as "tit-for-tat strikes in retaliation for when Saudi [Arabia] was hit." The revelation suggests that even as the Trump White House tried to present this is a very limited war, or even a mere US "excursion" - as Trump previously said, it was on the brink of spiraling into an all-out regional war involving Gulf allies hitting back directly at the Islamic Republic. By and large the Gulf allies relied solely on the US and Israel to pummel Iran during the prior 38 days of heavy bombing which marked the peak of Operation Epic Fury. This as the Gulf absorbed the bulk of Iran's retaliation. Iran sent hundreds if not thousands of ballistic missiles and drones on Gulf energy, infrastructure, and even central areas of cities. It had remained at the time an open question of whether countries like Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar and Kuwait would actually then go on the offensive. It seems that to some degree they did, and the public didn't know about it. Neither the Saudis nor Emirates have publicly acknowledged direct attacks on Iran, and per the new Reuters reporting Tuesday: Saudi Arabia has meanwhile sought to prevent the conflict from escalating and has stayed in regular contact with Iran, including via Tehran'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." Iranian officials declared they were primarily targeting US assets and military bases, and further vowed to 'punish' these countries for ever hosting American bases in the first place. But this new info showing that the Saudis and UAE in had already in effect joined the US military campaign marks yet more evidence of escalation. The ceasefire meanwhile seems effectively dead at this stage. NBC is now reporting the Pentagon actually considering re-naming Iran war ‘Sledgehammer’ if ceasefire collapses.