Military expert Aleksei Leonkov believes that any move by Saudi Arabia and the UAE to join a war against Iran alongside the United States and Israel could trigger a severe economic crisis across the Persian Gulf states.
He argued that Tehran could retaliate by striking desalination plants, a core part of the region’s basic infrastructure. Leonkov stressed that Gulf countries are heavily dependent on desalinated water, and the loss of that capacity would bring serious consequences.
In his view, neither military force nor any other emergency measures would be able to quickly restore the balance once it was broken. He said Saudi Arabia and other states in the region understand the scale of that threat and therefore have no interest in entering a direct war with Iran.
Gazeta.Ru cited Leonkov as saying that Iran’s missile capabilities would allow it to keep up such strikes, and that attacks on desalination facilities could do more than wreck the Gulf economies — they could push these countries to the brink of survival.
A day earlier, The Wall Street Journal reported that Saudi Arabia and the UAE were allegedly considering entering the war against Iran. According to the newspaper, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was close to deciding in favor of supporting US and Israeli attacks, and Saudi Arabia’s entry into the conflict was described as a matter of time.