US President Donald Trump once again raised eyebrows on Monday by insisting the Pentagon had no way of knowing that Iran would target Gulf countries hosting American bases if attacked by the US and Israel.
The Iranians, he claimed, “weren't supposed to go after all these other countries in the Middle East.” When “they hit Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, nobody expected that,” Trump told reporters, adding, “We were shocked.”
https://x.com/acyn/status/2033606083038875863
But if it was meant to be a secret that Iran would respond to an attack by hitting US assets in the region, it was perhaps world’s worst-kept one.
Just nine days before the US concluded its negotiations with Iran by launching a joint sneak attack on the country with Israel, Tehran explicitly warned that that’s exactly how it would react if struck.
“In the event that it is subjected to military aggression, Iran will respond decisively and proportionately in the exercise of its inherent right of self-defence under Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations,” Iran’s UN ambassador warned in a letter addressed to the Secretary-General dated February 19, 2026.
“In such circumstances, all bases, facilities and assets of the hostile force in the region would constitute legitimate targets in the context of Iran's defensive response,” he continued. “The United States,” the letter concluded, “would bear full and direct responsibility for any unpredictable and uncontrolled consequences.”
It wasn’t the first time Iran made the threat clear. On June 11, 2025 — two days before Israel struck — Iranian Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh told reporters that “If a conflict is imposed on us… all US bases are within our reach and we will boldly target them in host countries.”
If there’s anything ‘shocking’ about Iran’s response, it’s that they didn’t hit back right away — and waited to be struck a second time to retaliate across the region.
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