Iran-US war: A two-week ceasefire between the United States and Iran has brought much-needed respite from hostilities in the Middle East, with many experts observing that it effectively brought an end to the 40-day war between Iran and the US-Israeli combine as Washington is unlikely to engage at same level if strikes resume after the ceasefire ends.
How Iran dismantled US power structure in Middle East?
Additionally, geopolitical experts say the 40-day Iran war has essentially dismantled the US power structure in the Middle East as more than a dozen out of its 19 military bases, which once symbolised Washington's power and influence in the region, have been either completely destroyed or rendered unusable due to severe damage caused by devastating Iranian missile and drone strikes.
Reports suggest that US bases in Gulf nations like Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, and Bahrain, once considered Washington's biggest assets in the Middle East, have now been exposed as its greatest weakness.
At least a dozen US military bases in the Gulf have sustained severe damages in Iranian strikes, rendering them unusable, according to the New York Times.
"This was an entire US power structure that Iran destroyed within a month," Middle East Eye quoted the director of Middle East Politics Project at George Washington University as saying. The expert noted that the true extent of the damage sustained by US bases remains unclear as the Trump administration has not released any official details.
What damages were sustained by US bases?
Arab nations, including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), have restricted access to US bases located in their territory. The GCC countries had also prohibited photographic and video recordings of missiles in their skies, raising speculations about whether they intended to conceal the true extent of damage caused to US bases and military assets in Iranian strikes.
The US Navy's Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain, once considered the key pillar of US maritime power, was targeted multiple times by Iran during the peak of the 40-day war, and is believed to have sustained irreversible damages in the Iranian attacks.
"It's unlikely we'll ever be able to restore our Fifth Fleet there like before. It's too vulnerable now," US experts were quoted as saying.
Why Gulf states now view US military presence as a security threat?
Following the 1990 Gulf War against Saddam Hussein's Iraq, the US strengthened its military network in the Middle East, establishing at least 19 major military bases, housing around 50,000 US troops, in the region.
The US established itself as a net security provider for the GCC nations, who in turned helped strengthen the petrodollar as well Washington's strategic chokehold in West Asia.
However, the damages sustained by US bases and the Gulf states have threatened this arrangement as Arab nations are now viewing US presence in their territory as a security threat, rather than an assurance of safety, experts say.
"When one side in such an agreement starts to gain more and lose less, the relationship begins to weaken," experts believe as the Iranian attacks put the air defenses of Gulf nations under immense pressure during the war, and strikes crippled their critical energy infrastructure.
"Instead of deterring Iranian attacks, these military bases are attracting them. This appears to be shattering trust in the US' security guarantees," according to analysts.