From Sri Lanka to Europe, the war spreads far beyond Iran
In its retaliatory attacks, Iran has struck its US-allied neighbors in the region, including the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, Jordan, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
The war has also drawn in European powers, after a drone strike on Sunday hit a British military base in Cyprus, a European Union member state off the Turkish coast.
After the Sun newspaper published a photograph showing a hole in the side of an aircraft hangar, Britain’s Ministry of Defense said the strike on RAF Akrotiri, a classified British Overseas Territory, had caused “no casualties and extensive assessments determined the damage was minimal.”
The Spanish Defense Ministry announced on Thursday that it would deploy a frigate to defend Cyprus. Italy and France also confirmed they would deploy defensive forces to the region, while Britain announced plans to deploy a warship next week.
Olivia O’Sullivan, UK director of the global program at Chatham House, a London-based think tank, said the risk of further escalation would pose a challenge to America’s historic allies in Europe.
““U.S. presidents have acted unilaterally in the past, so this is not a totally new dilemma,” she told NBC News, but President Donald Trump “has really accelerated this trend, and that’s forcing European allies to reexamine when and how to support U.S. actions around the world.”
Separately, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry said on Thursday it had lodged an official protest with the Iranian embassy after four people were injured in drone incidents.
Azerbaijan said one of the drones hit an airport terminal, while the other fell near a school in a neighboring village in the Nakhichevan enclave.
Iran’s armed forces have denied carrying out drone strikes on Azerbaijan, saying in a statement that the Islamic Republic “respects the sovereignty of all countries.”
“The Iranians only have one more shot left,” Col. Steve Warren, an NBC News military analyst and former Pentagon spokesman, told NBC’s “TODAY” show.
“They want to involve these other nations in the conflict, in the hope that these nations will then pressure the United States to stop our action,” he said.
The conflict also threatens to have a major economic impact across the world.
The Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway that runs along Iran’s southern coast, passes a fifth of the world’s oil supply and is also a key route for other types of products such as aluminum, sugar and fertilizer.
Normally filled with tankers and cargo ships, it was almost emptied by Iran’s threat to attack the ships, driving up oil and gas prices.
Few places reveal the conflict’s global reach more clearly than Sri Lanka, located thousands of miles from the Middle East but deeply connected by sea routes, energy markets and ties to migrant workers.
“One of the main concerns is economic vulnerability,” Welivitiya added. “Disruptions to global shipping routes and energy supplies can have direct consequences on our economy, particularly given Sri Lanka’s recent economic challenges. »
Sri Lankan authorities warn that the rescue of the IRIS Dena may not be an isolated event, after announcing that a second Iranian ship had entered Sri Lankan territorial waters.
Sri Lanka is not allowing the ship to dock but is providing humanitarian assistance, Cabinet spokeswoman Nalinda Jayatissa said on Wednesday, without specifying whether it was a commercial or military ship.
“We are doing everything we can to save lives,” Jayatissa said.
Kasun Jayawardana, a tour guide in Galle, said locals were disturbed to see the aftermath of war coming to their shores in a country still scarred by decades of its own conflict.
After Sri Lanka’s nearly 30 years of civil war, which ended in 2009, Jayawardana told NBC News, the city had little appetite for a return of violence, even indirectly.
“We all hate war,” he said.
