Iran 'targeted Gulf with more missiles and drones than Israel': Israeli report

The Israeli Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), affiliated with Tel Aviv University, published data on Wednesday indicating that during the first four days of the Israeli-American assault on Iran, Tehran allegedly launched far more missiles and drones towards Gulf states than it did towards Israel.

According to the data, Iran fired two and a half times more missiles and twenty times more drones towards Gulf countries than towards Israel. While around 200 missiles and 100 drones were launched at Israel across 123 attack waves, Iran attacked Gulf states with roughly 500 missiles and 2,000 drones.

The New Arab could not verify the numbers independently, but the figures purport that attacks on Gulf states and other Arab countries during the first four days of the war included 812 drones and 186 missiles directed at the UAE, 92 drones and 74 missiles towards Bahrain, 46 drones and 116 missiles towards Qatar, 36 drones and 13 missiles towards Jordan, five drones towards Oman, 384 drones and 178 missiles towards Kuwait, three drones and two missiles towards Cyprus, 13 drones and two missiles towards Saudi Arabia, in addition to 70 missiles and drones directed at Iraqi Kurdistan.

As for casualties resulting from the Iranian bombardment, according to the institute's data during the same period, 11 were killed and five wounded in Iraq, four killed and 35 wounded in Kuwait, three killed and 68 wounded in the UAE, three killed and four wounded in Oman, 16 wounded in Qatar, one killed and four wounded in Bahrain, and five wounded in Jordan.

The institute also estimates that the Israeli air force had destroyed 300 launch platforms inside Iran by Tuesday, along with more than 100 ballistic missiles, while the US military destroyed 17 Iranian vessels and submarines.

If these figures are accurate, it appears that although Iran considers Israel its primary enemy, it is directing the bulk of its firepower towards its closer neighbours, even those with which it normally maintains relatively good relations, on the grounds that they host American bases.

Israeli assessments, including those published by the Hebrew-language site Ynet, suggest that the intensive Iranian attacks on Gulf states stem primarily from a strategic calculation: Tehran aims to push Gulf countries to pressure the United States to halt the assault, or at least significantly shorten its duration. These estimates claim this is the most effective leverage available to the Iranians, which is why they are using it without hesitation.

Another factor is range. Iran possesses a large number of missiles with ranges between 300 and 600 kilometres, capable of reaching Gulf states and oil facilities along the shores of the Arabian Gulf. It also possesses thousands of attack and suicide drones, which are often more accurate than missiles and harder for US air defence systems to intercept.

There is also the consideration of what the Hebrew site described as “easy targets” in the Gulf’s oil and construction sectors, which can be struck using the tens of kilograms of explosives carried by Shahed-136 one-way (suicide) drones. For such targets, Iran does not need heavy and costly ballistic missiles of the kind it uses against Israel. Instead, it often deploys anti-ship missiles launched from the Iranian coast or from fast attack boats operating in Gulf waters.