After Iran’s attack on Israel: How does the Arab world react?

There is still no official response from Arab governments to Iran’s attack. Experts from Egypt and Saudi Arabia criticize Tehran and see the states in the region in a mediating role.

There have so far been no official reactions from Arab governments, such as the one in Cairo, to Iran’s attack – but the political experts are in demand on Arab TV channels.

In the Egyptian channel Extra News, in the hands of the military on the Nile, Middle East expert Ramadan Abu Gazar has his say: “What worries Egypt is that the attack distracts from the Palestinian people,” said Gazar. Western society would have begun to understand for the first time the need to find a solution to the Palestinian cause. “Iran is now diverting that attention.” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could thus once again evade any pressure and demand further support.

Egypt, this statement can be interpreted, is concerned about the already stalled talks about a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and also about its own role as a mediator.

States in the region see themselves in a balancing role

Bashir Abdel Fattah is a political scientist at the Al-Ahram Center for Strategic and Policy Studies in Cairo. On Sky News Arabia he pleads for restraint. This is also an assessment that probably corresponds to that of many Arab states: “The states in the region were keen to demand restraint from the parties to the conflict so that a confrontation would not occur,” says the political scientist. “There is no doubt that Iran would be pushed to act irresponsibly in a regional war.”

The states in the region played a balancing role between Israel and the USA on the one hand and Iran on the other, “the tip of the scales, so to speak”.

Iran “didn’t save face”

Wegdan Abdel Rahman is also a political scientist and Iran expert: “I followed social media and saw that people were making fun of the Iranian regime,” he said on the Saudi TV channel Al Hadath. “The street sees this attack as a failure. It was clear that Iran just wanted to save face.” But Iran didn’t do itself any favors with the nighttime attack, says Rahman. “It doesn’t save face.”

Jordan even came to Israel’s aid that night. Jordanian fighter jets apparently intercepted several Iranian drones and missiles. According to the Al-Mamlaka TV channel, the Jordanian cabinet announced this after a meeting. Accordingly, parts of a rocket hit the south of the capital Amman.