adminNew reporting now suggests the air campaign known as Operation Epic Fury was broader than we were told. Reuters says Saudi Arabia carried out unpublicized strikes inside Iran in late March, and the Wall Street Journal reports the United Arab Emirates struck Iran’s Lavan Island refinery in early April. If true, Gulf monarchies quietly joined the fight, changing the game and the questions we should be asking.
What the reporting actually says
Reuters reported that Saudi Arabia “launched numerous, unpublicized strikes on Iran,” based on Western and Iranian officials who spoke to reporters. The story says the Saudi moves came in late March and were described by one source as “tit‑for‑tat strikes in retaliation.” The Wall Street Journal separately reported that the UAE struck the Lavan Island oil refinery, triggering a large fire and knocking much of the plant offline. Both governments have declined to publicly confirm the strikes, and Reuters and the WSJ relied on anonymous sources.
Why this matters: more than headlines
This is not trivia. If Gulf partners were striking Iranian soil, it widens the roster of direct combatants and shows a sharper regional alignment against Tehran. That matters for how the West thinks about escalation and deterrence. Anonymous sourcing means we should be cautious — but multiple reputable outlets reporting similar, independent details makes the story plausible and serious, not a rumor to shrug off between coast-to-coast speeches.
Questions for Washington and Gulf capitals
The big unanswered question is coordination. Did the United States know? Was President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio briefed or tacitly approving these moves? Or did Riyadh and Abu Dhabi act on their own? The WSJ said U.S. officials privately welcomed Abu Dhabi’s participation, which suggests at least some alignment. Still, Americans deserve transparency about whether U.S. policy and operations were coordinated with these covert actions.
What comes next
There’s an upside in strength: Gulf states finally moving from stern words to real action is a strategic shift that could help check Iran’s aggression. There’s also danger — covert strikes raise the risk of miscalculation and complicate any fragile ceasefire. Officials in Riyadh, Abu Dhabi and Washington should answer plainly: what happened, why, and who knew. Until then, expect Iran to test boundaries and for hawks in the region to see this as proof that pressure works. Which, for the record, it does — when it’s applied with teeth instead of sermons.
