



The world dodges another war—for now
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Alarm bells began to ring when US President Donald Trump hinted at direct intervention in what are the deadliest Iranian protests so far, posting “HELP IS ON ITS WAY" on his social media platform, Truth Social, on 13 January. The all-caps threat—Trump’s signature leadership style—urged Iranians to “KEEP PROTESTING", “TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!!", and even “MIGA" (Make Iran Great Again).
But Iran is no Venezuela. Any military action against the Islamic Republic would have consequences for the entire West Asian region. As expected, subsequent reports in the Financial Times said Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Qatar had persuaded Trump to hold off from attacking the country.
“We told Washington that an attack on Iran would open the way for a series of grave blowbacks in the region," news reports quoted an unidentified Saudi official as saying. The logic of the Arab states is simple: A US strike on Iran could unleash chaos and raise the risk of the region spinning out of control. But a defeated Iran would also leave Israel as the undisputed regional hegemon—pushing Arab states permanently into second place.
A completely undesirable outcome for them. For now, Trump appears to be holding back. Still, some military personnel have reportedly been moved out of the major US base in Qatar, and staff at US missions in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have been warned to exercise caution.
Meanwhile, reports suggest Iran’s brutal crackdown has, for now, largely quelled the protests. It remains difficult to assess the ground situation due to an internet blackout—one that appears to serve only US interests, as much of the information emerging comes from foreign, largely Western, media. What is broadly known is
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