The fierce rivalry between Sunni and Shiite Muslims is a historical given. The two groups hate each other with a passion. It is beyond the scope of this short essay to go into the history of how and why the differences and rivalries arose between Sunnis and Shiites. Suffice it to say that by now there is a vast chasm and fierce rivalry in Islamic theology and life between the world's Arabs, who are mostly Sunni Muslims, and the Persians, or as they are known today Iranians, who are mostly Shiite Muslims.
One thing they do share in common is their hatred of Israel specifically and their equally visceral antisemitism and xenophobia towards Jews in general.
The outbreak of the current war between the United States of America allied with Israel, and the Islamic Republic of Iran, has pitted the top technologically advanced Western country and the world's leading superpower against Iran with its arsenals of missiles and drones. Iran is the most fanatic and belligerent Islamic country on Earth. America is joined by its ally Israel in pro-actively attacking Iran's military and nuclear development points. Iran is joined by its sychophant proxies, notably Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza and the Houthis in Yemen in striking both Israel proper and United States military, diplomatic and economic targets located in the Arab countries of the Middle East, especially those nearest to the geographical borders of Iran in the Gulf.
Not only has Iran struck Israelis and American assets, but it has also directly attacked all the Arab countries facing its borders and coastline. Not only are Israel's bases in its own Jewish homeland and American bases in Arab lands attacked, but Iran has upped the ante and struck at every single Arab country that faces it.
The Iranians' excuse is that they are "only" targeting American assets in the Arabian part of the Middle East, but in fact they have also been firing missiles and drones at a wide range of non-military targets in the various Arab countries facing them.
In March 2026, Iran launched missile and drone strikes against nearly all Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations members in response to U.S. and Israeli military operations.
United Arab Emirates (UAE): This has been one of the most impacted. Major strikes hit Dubai and Abu Dhabi, including areas near the international airports and the Jebel Ali Port.
Saudi Arabia: Iran targeted the Shaybah oil field and the capital, Riyadh. Saudi air defenses intercepted dozens of drones. The attacks contributed to significant spikes in global oil prices.
Bahrain: As the home of the U.S. Fifth Fleet, Bahrain was targeted directly. Strikes hit fuel storage tanks at its primary oil refinery and desalination infrastructure.
Qatar & Kuwait: Both countries saw missile and drone strikes aimed at U.S. air bases (such as Al Udeid in Qatar).
Oman: Oman’s Port of Salalah and the Duqm commercial port were hit by drones.
Jordan: The Jordanian military confirmed that Iran began targeting "vital installations" inside Jordan, specifically targeting U.S. military assets stationed there. Between February and March 2026, the Jordanian army reported that over 240 missiles and drones were fired toward the kingdom. While 222 were intercepted, 18 projectiles landed on Jordanian territory. Muwaffaq Salti Air Base: A U.S. THAAD radar system was reportedly damaged or destroyed in early March 2026
This is not to mention the blockading of the vital passageway of the Straits of Hormuz that has strangled the export of oil from the Gulf nations and effectively hamstrung, if not crippled, their oil-based economies.
And yet, the counter-military response by these Sunni Arab nations has been an underwhelming less than a whimper. They have all relied on United States and Israeli airpower to hammer the Iranians and cut them down to size.
Where are the hundreds of billions of dollars in military hardware that the United States and Western Europe sold to these Arab "emperors without clothes" over decades? There have been countless articles in the media over the years about all the sophisticated planes and military technology that the United States has sold to Saudi Arabia in particular and about all kinds of weapons systems and hardware that these Arab nations have gleefully demanded, bought and received from the United States and the West.
Now is the time for the Sunni Arabs to unite as one and face up to the direct open attacks of the Shiite Iranians on their countries and to unlock the grip of Iran over the Straits of Hormuz.
During World War One (1914-1918) there was the so-called Great Arab Revolt, supported by the Western Allies, by the Arabs against the Ottoman Turks. At that time the Arabs successfully sided with the Western Allies. Unlike the Second World War (1939-1945) when the Arabs sat around passively while the Allies fought the Axis Powers in the Middle East, and there were also Muslim leaders who supported the Nazis.
What exactly have the Arabs done with all the military help they received from America and the West and when exactly do they plan to use it against their common Iranian enemies, now pummeling Arab nations with impunity?
For example - when will the Saudi air force counter-bomb Iran? When will the Arab Gulf states use the missiles and military technology they bought that they still possess to counter strike Iran? When will they put together an Arab expeditionary force to take on the tyrannical Shiite clerics and fanatics in Iran just as they did over a hundred years ago against the oppressive Ottoman Turks? In short, when will they show some backbone and resolve and not just hide behind the American and Israeli "apron strings"?
Until such time as the Sunni Arabs come to their senses and act like self-respecting nations that fight to defend their lands, and in this case their Sunni faith, from the onslaught of the vitriolic Iranian Shiites, they are not even toothless paper tigers living on borrowed time.
And another query: Where is Egypt, the largest Sunni Arab nation, in all of this? Egypt has received tens of billions of dollars in American military aid over the decades. Instead of eyeing Israel as its number one enemy, militarizing the Sinai and assisting Hamas in Gaza under the table - or more liikely under the ground,- and massing tanks and troops on its borders with Israel, it should be speaking up loudly against Iranian hegemony, and come to the aid of its Sunni Arab brothers facing open and violent Iranian aggression.
Rabbi Yitschak Rudomin was born to Holocaust survivor parents in Israel, grew up in South Africa, and lives in Brooklyn, NY. He is an alumnus of Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin and of Teachers College-Columbia University and heads the Jewish Professionals Institute dedicated to Jewish Adult Education and Outreach - Kiruv Rechokim. He was the Director of the Belzer Chasidim's Sinai Heritage Center of Manhattan 1988-1995, a Trustee of AJOP 1994-1997 and founder of American Friends of South African Jewish Education 1995-2015. He is the author of The Second World War and Jewish Education in America: The Fall and Rise of Orthodoxy.Contact Rabbi Yitschak Rudomin at izakrudomin@gmail.com