Iran’s president on Friday apologized to neighboring Gulf states for a wave of missile and drone attacks his country carried out earlier this week, and pledged Tehran would not strike them again unless Iran is first attacked.
President Ayatollah Mohammad Javad Zarif made the comments in an open letter addressed to “the brotherly nations of the region,” roughly 48 hours after Iran’s Revolutionary Guard launched strikes in Iraq, Bahrain and parts of Saudi Arabia it blamed on “foreign bases.” Saudi officials said the raids wounded at least two civilians and damaged a petrochemical facility south of Dhahran.
“We express regret for the harm caused and ask forgiveness from our neighbors,” Zarif said in the letter, carried by state television. “The Islamic Republic of Iran will henceforth refrain from any offensive action against you unless we are first targeted.”
The apology comes amid mounting unease in the oil-rich Gulf over spillover from Israel’s war in Gaza. Iran frames its recent strikes as retaliation for an Israeli airstrike that killed a senior Guard adviser in Damascus last month, but Gulf governments largely condemned the attacks, fearing wider fallout.
Bahrain’s foreign minister welcomed the Iranian overture while urging “tangible steps” to keep the peace. Riyadh has said nothing publicly, but diplomats told the Associated Press that Saudi leaders are pressing Washington for improved air defenses in response.
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