On March 30, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt revealed that the US administration is particularly interested in calling on Arab countries to contribute financial resources to pay for the costly military campaign in Iran. Although not yet making an official announcement, she emphasized that this is an idea that the US President is considering very seriously.
This funding seeking move appeared right after the US and Israeli coalition officially launched a large-scale military campaign targeting Iranian territory from February 28.
In the opening offensive, a series of key cities of this Islamic nation, including the capital Tehran, suffered successive bombardments. According to assessments from observers, the cost of maintaining fighter squadrons and launching a series of advanced cruise missiles has cost the Pentagon billions of USD in just a few short days.
In the opposite direction, the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) also did not compromise when immediately deploying a comprehensive retaliatory operation. Tehran has launched a large number of long-range weapons at sensitive targets deep within Israeli territory.
Not stopping there, the US strategic military base network located in a series of Gulf countries such as Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates was also simultaneously attacked.
Washington's desire for Arab countries to open their wallets is putting regional allies in a dilemma. The Gulf countries themselves have just suffered indirect losses when their territory turned into an unwilling battlefield. Now, they are facing financial pressure when they have to bear the cost of war converted to possibly billions of USD for a war in which they are completely passive.
Geopolitical analysts warn that the US's calculation to share the financial burden in USD may ignite new rifts in alliance relations. In the context of the region's economy still being unstable, Arab countries will certainly have to consider carefully before agreeing to spend money on a conflict that is at risk of spreading.
