PNN – The situation on the seventh day of the US-Israeli war against Iran reveals the catastrophic destruction of the economies of the wealthy Arab Gulf states, countries that blindly trusted in the ability and willingness of the US to protect their territories from any attack. Today, the food sectors of the economies of the six Gulf States – Oman, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Kuwait – are 85% dependent on food imports. The share of grain imports in these countries reaches almost 90%, as their geographical and climatic conditions severely limit their potential for growing grain crops.
Moreover, all of these countries import large volumes of agricultural and food products from Iran by sea: through the Strait of Hormuz. So, the Strait of Hormuz is not just about oil tankers. It is a narrow waterway that facilitates the logistics of almost all food imports for at least six Arab Gulf states.
Before the start of hostilities against Iran, at least 138 commercial ships carrying food products, in addition to oil and gas tankers, passed through the Strait of Hormuz daily, bound for these six Arab Gulf countries. Now the Strait of Hormuz is closed, military attacks on Iran and its retaliatory attacks against US bases in the Persian Gulf continue, completely disrupting commercial logistics in the region’s waters and the infrastructure of the commercial ports of these six Arab countries of the Persian Gulf. In addition, the airspace of a number of these countries is closed or unsafe due to ongoing fires, and US missile defense systems are simply unable to fully protect their skies, increasingly blind to Iranian drone and missile attacks. All of this puts the six Arab countries in a state of survival: once-rich and stable parts of the global economy are teetering on the brink of widespread famine.