The U.S. State Department on Monday urged American citizens to “depart now” from all 14 countries between Iran and Egypt as Iran expanded the scope of conflict with indiscriminate missile strikes on all its neighbors. But the strategy seems to have backfired by reminding a reluctant world just why the United States and Israel want to replace the rogue Iranian regime. “Many people in the Gulf woke up Saturday [angry] at the United States and Israel and went to sleep [angry] at Iran,” summarized Atlantic Council Director of Middle East Programs William Wechsler.

Iran has attacked nearly every neighbor to the west and south, enraging them in a conflict it could have limited to just Israel and the United States.

In Bahrain, Iran struck the Crowne Plaza Hotel in downtown Manama, wounding two personnel with the Department of Defense, as well as an Amazon web center. In Kuwait, where Iran killed six U.S. servicemembers, an Iranian drone also crashed into the country’s main airport, injuring several employees. In Oman, Iranian drones hit a fuel tank at the Duqm commercial port, injuring one worker.

In Qatar, Iran targeted the Doha airport, the country’s LNG (liquefied natural gas) facilities, a power plant’s water tank, and another energy installation, leaving at least eight wounded. And these were only the known targets. On March 1, the Qatari defense ministry detected 65 ballistic missiles and 12 drones incoming from Iran in several waves, and it successfully intercepted all but two missiles and one drone, as well as shooting down two Iranian fighter jets that entered its airspace.

The United Arab Emirates, one of Iran’s closest neighbors, received the worst assault. Iran has directed 189 missiles and 941 drones at its territory, of which the UAE intercepted 175 missiles (another 13 fell into the sea) and 876 drones. Shrapnel from the destroyed ordnance resulted in three fatalities among three foreign workers employed at an Emirati port. The targets of these attacks included a warehouse at Al Salam Naval Base in Abu Dhabi, which hosts French forces, the U.S. consulate in Dubai, the Fairmont Palm Hotel in Dubai, Zayed International Airport, and two Amazon data centers. Shrapnel from intercepted projectiles also hit Dubai International Airport and the Burj Al Arab hotel.

Thus, Iran heavily targeted all the tiny nations around the Persian Gulf, but the rogue regime did not stop there. In Saudi Arabia, Iran targeted the U.S. embassy in Riyadh, as well as the Saudi kingdom’s largest oil refinery in two separate attacks. In Syria, a missile launched by Iran killed four after the new regime criticized Iran’s aggression but not the American assault. In Jordan, a “vital target” was attacked by a swarm of drones launched by an Iranian proxy militia in Iraq.

All these attacks grievously provoked Iran’s neighbors, who previously had little reason or inclination to tangle with Iran. On Sunday, the Gulf Cooperation Council (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman) called an emergency session where they pledged to “take all necessary measures to defend their security and stability and to protect their territories, citizens, and residents, including the option of responding to the aggression.”

“They want to fight,” President Donald Trump declared Monday. “They were going to be very little involved, and now they insist on being involved.”

The UAE, in particular, is contemplating military action after Iran fired more than 1,000 missiles at its territory. Its foreign ministry proclaimed that the “UAE retains its right to self-defense,” although it “has not taken any decision to alter its defensive posture in response to the repeated Iranian attacks.”

Qatar, too, was highly displeased. “All the red lines have already been crossed,” declared foreign ministry spokesman Majed al Ansari. “The attacks on our sovereignty are constant. There are attacks on infrastructure. There are attacks on our residential areas. And the effects of these attacks are very clear. When it comes to possible retaliation, all options are with our leadership. But we have to make it very clear that attacks like these will not go unanswered and cannot go unanswered.”

For now, Qatar has arrested two espionage cells of operatives from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), including seven people who gathered intelligence and three assigned to conduct sabotage activities.

Even Pakistan, although not attacked by Iran, may become embroiled in the conflict due to a mutual defense pact it signed with Saudi Arabia in September.

These Arab nations have many options for siding with the U.S. against Iran that come short of engaging in acts of war with their larger neighbor. For example, they could allow American forces to use their bases for attacks on Iran, bringing American firepower closer to the target.

Now “that Iran has haphazardly struck the Gulf partners,” said retired Brigadier General John Teichert on “Washington Watch,” “not only are the Gulf partners defending themselves and potentially starting to be engaged in strike packages, but they are allowing our fighter aircraft to launch from their countries, which means that, instead of traveling a thousand miles to strike targets, they’re only traveling a couple hundred miles. And all of that mass of our capability is now starting to truly come to bear against the Iranian regime.”

A similar pattern was evident in the response of European nations. Originally, not even the United Kingdom would allow American forces based in its territory to participate in the attack. But, after Iran attacked a Kuwaiti air base used by Italy, an Emirati naval base used by France, and even a British air base in Cyprus, European powers reversed course, with the U.K. allowing the U.S. to use its bases, France declaring itself ready to defend the Gulf countries, and tiny Greece sending forces to defend Cyprus. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen even called for regime change, saying “a credible transition in Iran is urgently needed.”

One outlier is Spain, which still refuses to let the U.S. attack Iran from its military bases. In addition, France has agreed to work with China on de-escalating the conflict with Iran, which is a bit like the anti-Semites calling for a “ceasefire now” on the day after Hamas’s October 7 attack. The only thing “de-escalation” will achieve right now is saving the Islamist regime from internal overthrow — an outcome that is strange for ultra-secular France to seek.

Another outlier is Turkey, the only NATO member whose land area crosses into Asia. Yet, as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan increasingly radicalizes the nation in an imperial, Islamic, and anti-Israel ideology, the nation looks more and more like Iran and less and less like a U.S. ally, even to the point of hosting Hamas terrorists. Erdogan declared himself “saddened to learn of the passing of Iran’s Supreme Leader” and criticized the U.S. attack as a “clear violation of international law.”

Despite hosting U.S. bases and holding a land border with Iran, Turkey managed to avoid any incoming ordnance from Iran over the first several days. By Wednesday, some articles began to notice Turkey’s apparent immunity. Hours later, NATO air defenses intercepted a missile that crossed over Iraq and Syria into Turkish airspace.

Whether the Iranian attack on Turkey was an expansion of its aggression or an attempt to help Turkey cover its attacks, the assault represented the most recent attack yet on the home territory of a NATO member country, potentially triggering the NATO treaty’s mutual defense articles.

“We condemn Iran’s targeting of Turkiye,” NATO spokeswoman Allison Hart said Wednesday. “NATO stands firmly with all Allies, including Turkiye, as Iran continues its indiscriminate attacks across the region. Our deterrence and defense posture remains strong across all domains, including when it comes to air and missile defense.”

Last Saturday, the U.S. and Israel could not even count on the support of close allies in their initial attack on Iran. Now, Iran’s indiscriminate attacks on civilian and infrastructure targets in nearly all the neighboring countries have turned the region against it, reminding even Arab nations that the Islamic Republic of Iran is a bad actor. The result appears to be uniting these Arab nations on the side of Israel and the United States and against Iran, a result that would have been unthinkable even several years ago.

In brief, Iran’s retaliatory attacks on all its neighbors have made Operation Epic Fury much easier for the United States, a best-case scenario for the Trump administration it could hardly have predicted.