00:00We're going to turn now to the Middle East. We're going to go to Bloomberg News Deputy UAE Bureau Chief
00:04Abir Abu Omar because one of the things we've been talking about Abir is how Gulf countries are reacting to
00:09this conflict.
00:10Not only how they're taking fire from Iran, how they're dealing with that, but how they're reacting, how they're dealing
00:15with the U.S., and whether or not they're trying to make moves to handle security on their own.
00:21Can you just kind of walk us through what's going on in the region and how the GCC countries are
00:24feeling?
00:26Good morning, Christina. So, yes, you're absolutely right. Gulf countries are in focus when it comes to this widening parameters
00:33of this conflict.
00:34You mentioned that the Houthis had reacted this morning joining the conflict. They've remained not part of it for the
00:42past month or so, but are now part of it.
00:45So we're seeing the conflict really taking different shapes when it comes to Gulf countries, including the biggest two in
00:50the region, that is the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
00:53Those countries we reported earlier are considering possibly weighing options to come in militarily.
01:00Now, this will only be the case if Iran attacks some vital infrastructure, including desalination plans, for example, in Saudi
01:08Arabia or the United Arab Emirates.
01:10Iran has continued its attacks against Gulf countries into the early hours of this morning, including, as you mentioned earlier,
01:18a base in Saudi Arabia,
01:19but also the KZAT facility in close to Abu Dhabi on the way from Dubai to Abu Dhabi, but also
01:26Kuwait's airport and a facility in Oman as well, which has been a mediator.
01:30But Gulf countries are secretly telling reporters, we also reported earlier, that Gulf countries are starting to get really frustrated
01:38and angry at Iran and Iran's relentless attacks,
01:43but also the lack of objectives or the lack of clarity on the objectives from the American, from the U
01:50.S. administration, from President Donald Trump's administration.
01:53And they really fear a scenario here where the Trump administration reaches a deal with Iran, but it doesn't really
02:01dictate what it could be like in the future.
02:04Now, I mentioned earlier that Gulf countries, including UAE officials, have told us in the past that they were really
02:11anxious over Iran crossing red lines.
02:14Iran has done so now. It's crossed those red lines. It's attacked them directly.
02:18And so that is something that they're going to need some guarantees over when it comes to future purposes.
02:24Abir, help us understand the way that the attacks that we saw yesterday are reverberating around the region.
02:29So they were preceded by the president saying that he was going to put in place this pause on attacking
02:33power plants, energy infrastructure.
02:36It seems Israel did that on the heels of that announcement from the president.
02:39How is that more degradation of infrastructure playing out across the region?
02:44Look, I mean, the president did say that he's not going to attack plants until the deadline of April 6
02:52comes through.
02:53You mentioned earlier that he's given that deadline of April 6 until 8 p.m., where no plants are going
03:00to be attacked and for Iran to come back to the negotiation table.
03:03But we've seen attacks from both sides. Israel attacked a heavy water reactor facility in a nuclear plant in Iran
03:13yesterday.
03:13That led to the Houthis this morning attacking Israel.
03:18And so, you know, what is happening in the region is what I've been hearing from a lot of officials
03:24over the past week is this whiplash effect,
03:26where you get a lot of these geopolitical headlines from President Trump, but also from Iran saying we're coming back
03:32to the negotiating table with Iran to counter saying that's actually not going to happen.
03:37The plans or the proposals that have been thrown by both sides have been, by some people, nicknamed as a
03:44wish list.
03:45But it is a starting position by both Iran and the U.S.
03:49But the attacks have been continuing, possibly not on nuclear plants or wider energy facilities,
03:54but they have been going on across all the Gulf Arab nations and others.
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