Iran War Spreads as Middle East Sovereignty Breaks Down
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- U.S. and Saudi airstrikes inside Iraq against Iran-allied militias drew a 'flagrant violation of sovereignty' rebuke from Iraqi PM Ali al-Zaidi, who met Trump at the White House last month
- Iran's horizontal escalation has drawn retaliatory strikes into Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Jordan, with Saudi and Emirati forces then striking back at Iranian territory
- Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping have resumed as a direct outgrowth of the war, with Saudi Arabia preparing a possible new Yemen offensive and attempting to build a multinational coalition against the group
- A Ukrainian strike on a Russia-bound Iranian vessel in the Caspian Sea raises the prospect of the Iran and Ukraine wars merging—a scenario the author notes Israel would welcome
- Trump has threatened to escalate attacks on Iranian civilian infrastructure and even to strike Oman, which has been serving as a mediator trying to de-escalate the violence
- Violence reached Egypt when a drone of unknown origin caused fires on two vessels at the Mediterranean port of Damietta; Iran denies involvement and suggests a possible Israeli false flag
Why it matters: The piece frames the conflict not as a bilateral U.S.-Iran fight but as a breakdown of the sovereignty principle that has anchored international order since the 1648 Peace of Westphalia—even Iraq's pro-American prime minister publicly condemned the strikes on his soil. The author argues that major-power intervention and ideological victory both fail as exits from regional disorder, leaving only mutual forbearance as a viable path forward.
