> G42

G42 isn't American - it's Emirati. But it doesn't matter.

Iran is only burning additional bridges with it's neighbors which has only incentivized them to take a much more hardline stance against the Islamic Republic.

The fact that they alienated Qatar last week is truly mindboggling though - it was QatarEnergy that was subsidizing NOIC and Qataris with clan ties in Iran like Saad al Kaabi who were some of the biggest proponents for Qatar-Iran normalization have been sidelined.

It has also now aligned the Gulf States with Ukraine [0], and now reduces Iran to become a mere extension of Russia, and arguably converts this conflict into a second theatre of the Russia-Ukraine War, which in my opinion has become a de facto world war.

[0] - https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/28/zelenskyy-signs-air...

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seanmcdirmid 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Did Iran really have allies in Arab Sunni ruled countries though? Pretty much all of them already see non-Arab Shia Iran as an enemy, and have for a long time. The only real mystery is how the region hasn't imploded already with all the historical tension between these countries.

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alephnerd 2 hours ago | parent [-]

> Did Iran really have allies in Arab Sunni ruled countries though

Yes. Qatar due to Iran's support of the Thani family during the tumultuous 1990s [0] and the blockade [1], Sudan under Bashir [2] and now under the Army [3], Tunisia [4] due to ties with Ennadha, Algeria until 2025 [5] due to Morocco and Israel's close defense cooperation, and Kuwait due to economic and clan ties [6].

> Pretty much all of them already see non-Arab Shia Iran as an enemy

Only those states directly aligned with Saudi or the UAE (they are not the same team) view Iran with hostility becuase of Saudi Arabia and Iran's perennial rivalry over the MidEast.

[0] - https://www.danielpipes.org/6317/hamad-bin-jasim-bin-jabr-al...

[1] - https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/6/25/iran-hassan-rouhani...

[2] - https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/166344/235_Bodansky.pdf

[3] - https://www.bic-rhr.com/research/new-old-player-town-sudan-i...

[4] - https://iramcenter.org/en/inside-the-complexity-of-iran-tuni...

[5] - https://nouvellerevuepolitique.fr/hichem-aboud-comment-alger...

[6] - https://web.archive.org/web/20220717062931/http://www.payvan...

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mullingitover 8 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

> Yes. Qatar

Qatar, the country hosting the Al Udeid Air Base, the biggest US military base in the middle east? That Qatar?

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seanmcdirmid an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

That is useful, thanks! Iran always seems like they have more enemies than friends, but I guess I overplayed the Shia/Sunni divide.

	▲	alephnerd an hour ago \| parent [-]
		> Iran always seems like they have more enemies than friends Because the core of the Iranian Revolution is quite similar to Maoism [0] but also very interested in exporting the revolution abroad. You have to remember that the Iranian Revolution only happened in 1979, and most of Iran's modern leadership were foot soldiers and even leadership during Iran's Cultural Revolution [1] in the 1980s (eg. Rouhani, Larijani, Aref, Arafi). Imagine if China today was ruled by active Red Guard, or if the 1976 autocoup failed - that's Iran, but with a dose of Islamism. > I guess I overplayed the Shia/Sunni divide. Yep. In fact, a number of Sunni states saw contemporary attempts to mimic the Iranian Revolution such as in Saudi Arabia with the Kaaba Siege, the Afghan Revolution in 1979 which led to the Soviet Occupation, and the burning the US Embassy in Islamabad in 1979 [2]. [0] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47108706 [1] - https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%82%D9%84%D8%A7... [2] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1979_U.S._embassy_burning_in_I...

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nullocator 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> The fact that they alienated Qatar last week is truly mindboggling though

I mean Qatar did just give a really expensive plane to the guy who unilaterally assassinated the Iranian supreme leader and is bombing their country to smithereens.

	▲	alephnerd 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		First, your argument makes Iran a valid target because Iran has been directly supplying weaponry for Russia to use against Ukraine. If Iran is justified to strike Qatar for supporting the US via basing and financing, then the US is justified in striking Iran as they are supporting Russia against Ukraine with financing and armaments. Secondly, Iran had very few allies in the region, and Qatar was their last major one who could act as a good faith interlocutor. Now Iran has to negotiate with the US via Pakistan, whose leadership has been setting the US's Iran policy [0][1][2] in favor of an armed approach following the short Pakistan-Iran War in 2024 [3]. We can keep perpetually striking Iran. It doesn't matter to us and midterms be damned. But Iran has lost their last contact with whom they could negotiate an offramp, and will have to spend hundreds of billions of dollars and at least decade to rebuild. The maximalist approach (which was always stupid) won't occur, but the realistic win (ie. a deindustrialized Iran that cannot threaten a nuclear program for at least a decade) is successful. I even mentioned this would be the end result before this happened [4]. Qatar was the last major Gulf State that was pushing against this approach, but they have now silently aligned with Israel, Saudi, and the UAE. And as I've mentioned before, HNers heavily overestimate the influence and power civilian leadership such as a President let alone their cabinet members and other Senate confirmed members have on actual policymaking. In action (and even in this administration) policy is managed upwards. [0] - https://www.intelligenceonline.com/middle-east-and-africa/20... [1] - https://www.intelligenceonline.com/middle-east-and-africa/20... [2] - https://www.intelligenceonline.com/asia-pacific/2025/07/09/p... [3] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Iran%E2%80%93Pakistan_con... [4] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47092612