Hormuz, resilience and cohesion dominate Jeddah summit

Gulf Cooperation Council leaders met at an important summit in Jeddah on Tuesday to discuss the lessons learned in the Iran war and review progress in their collective efforts to cope with it.

Since the war started on Feb. 28, there have been nearly nonstop meetings of GCC civilian and security officials. The bloc’s foreign ministers held an emergency meeting on March 1, followed on March 5 by a joint meeting of EU and GCC foreign ministers and a GCC-EU joint summit of heads of state and government to coordinate and express solidarity. This week’s Jeddah summit reviewed progress and gave instructions for further efforts.

The GCC has always favored diplomacy to tackle the myriad contentious issues with Iran. Some member states worked very hard to prevent this war. Some were major trading partners. But Iran rewarded them by firing the majority of its missiles and drones in this war — more than 85 percent of the total — at GCC targets. The sense of betrayal was palpable.

Iran’s attacks made most people and officials in the GCC region lose trust in Iran, but they still favored a “diplomatic path” to end the conflict with Tehran. However, with that diminished trust, any diplomatic efforts will have to be coupled with strengthening defense and deterrence, while enlisting the support of the international community, including the UN and the International Court of Justice.

The GCC has always favored diplomacy to tackle the myriad contentious issues with Iran

Dr. Abdel Aziz Aluwaisheg

The most immediate issue is the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which is precipitating a global economic downturn. This issue should be handled separately and ahead of the other issues that led to this war, because hundreds of millions of people have been severely affected by Iran’s action, which has wreaked havoc with both energy security and food security.

The war conditions in the Gulf, but especially the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, underscore the need for faster and deeper connectivity between member states. A lot has been done in the past to improve connectivity and it all came in handy, especially in Saudi Arabia. When Iran closed the strait, exports from and imports into most GCC countries were affected. Saudi ports on the Red Sea served as a viable alternative. Thousands of trucks traversed the Kingdom to deliver goods to the countries on the Arabian Gulf. The Kingdom’s 5,000 km of railroads also helped and its airports were utilized by grounded airlines in other GCC countries.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has advocated since at least 2016 for more extensive connectivity between GCC states and between the GCC region and the rest of the world. That means harmonizing the regulatory environments concerning transport and communications, including standards and protocols. Much has been done in aviation, land transport and shipping, but more needs to be done.

In aviation in particular, the GCC region boasts some of the best airlines and airports in the world. Saudi Arabia has managed to grow its rail network sixfold, from less than 800 km to close to 5,000 km, in a decade. The UAE and Qatar have started brand new national rail networks. Saudi Arabia’s project of linking Riyadh to other GCC capitals via ultrafast trains has advanced, with the first agreement on such a link signed in December with Qatar. Other agreements are on the way. But the cross-GCC railroad, agreed more than 20 years ago, has yet to start. The Jeddah summit agreed to speed up its completion.

GCC states are deeply interested in digital development, including localizing artificial intelligence platforms, data centers and cloud services. Some of the world’s most important data cables cross GCC territory, but the Iran war underscored their vulnerabilities and called for the creation of redundancies to switch to should something happen to them.

The GCC joint electric grid became fully operational in 2010 but projects to extend its reach to neighboring countries have yet to see the light of day. The Dammam-based agency in charge of the grid has the capacity to expand outside GCC borders but political constraints have limited that expansion. In 2024, the crown prince proposed connecting the GCC and EU power grids, which led to discussions to explore the modalities for doing so.

The Jeddah summit injected urgency into another set of integration projects to enhance resilience

Dr. Abdel Aziz Aluwaisheg

The ceasefire in the war between Iran, Israel and the US may not last long considering the significant gap between the belligerents’ positions. Drawing lessons from the first phase of the war, when Iran targeted or threatened nearly every bit of critical infrastructure in the GCC, the Jeddah summit injected urgency into another set of integration projects to enhance resilience. Some are still in the study and exploration phase, while others have progressed further, but the plan now is to ensure that they are implemented soon.

The success of the east-west oil pipeline in helping Saudi Arabia continue exporting through Red Sea terminals proved the wisdom of maintaining redundancies and adopting a more strategic calculus. Relying on strictly commercial short-term feasibility led in the past to similar projects being abandoned, but no more. Now oil and gas pipeline projects will be revisited and reevaluated.

Water connectivity — i.e., connecting desalination plants located in different countries via pipelines — was also studied in the past and abandoned. Recent Iranian attacks and threats against water projects have revived interest in water connectivity, so that if one desalination plant goes out of service, others can quickly replace it.

Iran used mainly missiles and drones in its attacks against GCC countries. More than 90 percent of those attacks were thwarted, which is testimony to the quality of GCC soldiers and equipment. But the GCC side is seeking even better interception rates, earlier warning times and less expensive alternatives. The technology appears to be improving all the time.

GCC defense officials were among the first to meet and coordinate their responses to Iran’s attacks. The GCC Joint Military Command and defense committees from all military branches have been involved in coordinating the bloc’s response.

So, the coming weeks should witness a reenergized GCC system working on several fronts — strengthening defense, improving connectivity, rebuilding what Iran’s attacks have damaged, restoring production and export capacity, and improving the quality of life of the 60 million people who live in GCC countries.

• Dr. Abdel Aziz Aluwaisheg is the GCC assistant secretary-general for political affairs and negotiation. The views expressed here are personal and do not necessarily represent those of the GCC. X: @abuhamad1