For several decades, the security of the Gulf monarchies has rested on a simple equation: energy resources in exchange for American military protection. This model was consolidated through the installation of U.S. military bases across the region and the progressive integration of Gulf economies into global financial circuits.
The Abraham Accords added a further dimension to this architecture by normalizing relations between several Arab states and Israel — implicitly aiming to build a strategic bloc capable of containing Iranian influence.
The current war has exposed the limits of this system. American military infrastructure, energy installations and financial centers across the Gulf have now become direct strategic targets.
By striking installations in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait, Iran sent an unambiguous signal: states that host the instruments of American military projection can no longer claim genuine neutrality in a regional conflict. The very infrastructures that enabled the region’s economic rise have become points of exposure in a context of open military confrontation.
The Strait of Hormuz: Geography as Power
At the heart of this crisis lies a geographical space whose significance extends far beyond the region: the Strait of Hormuz. This narrow maritime passage — barely 50 kilometers wide at its most constricted point and 212 kilometers long — constitutes the world economy’s primary energy transit chokepoint.
