It is indisputable that the Iranian attack on the vital Aramco oil installations is a serious political, military, and economic escalation, in addition to being direct aggression against international law and then against Saudi Arabia.
The history of indirect confrontation between Iran and the world is now perhaps defined in two phases: the pre-attack phase and the post-attack stage.
But nearly two weeks after the “foolish” aggression, as described by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, one can say that Saudi Arabia has made several gains out of the Iranian irrationality, while the Iranian regime is increasing its losses day after day, and dives deeper into greater isolation.
Iran, after exploiting a gray area to embellish the misfortunes of its actions, finds itself today under terrible and unprecedented international pressure.
The Saudi gains are diverse. The following are the four main ones:
First, the Kingdom has proven - to all those who contradicted it - the veracity of its political stance on the Iranian regime, which was translated into severing relations with Tehran and placing it within the framework of a system that cannot be repaired diplomatically.
Second, the Kingdom reaffirmed that it is the only country capable of securing oil supplies to the world under any circumstances, and that the security and stability of the global economy could not be fulfilled without the Saudi footprint. Immediately after the Iranian attack on Aramco, oil prices rose by about 18%, the highest in a single day since 1988, before the Kingdom stabilized markets at an astounding speed.
Third, the world has seen, with proofs and evidence, which state is rational, avoids crises, extinguishes fires, and respects international law, and which is reckless and does not hesitate to bring the whole world into futile wars and endless tensions.
The fourth gain is Saudi Arabia’s diplomatic ability to rally world support in its favor. More than 80 countries have strongly condemned the incident, calling it an aggressive and unjustified terrorist attack.
What about the Iranian losses? Needless to say, they are too many to be counted. But let us cite the most important four:
First, Iran has attacked Saudi Arabia but found itself facing an international confrontation, not only with the state that it attacked. The aggression hit the artery of the global economy, not the Saudi economy, as Tehran imagined.
Second, the international isolation of Iran is unprecedented. Even during the annual meetings of the UN General Assembly, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani was looking for any meeting, whatsoever, with any of the presidents and heads of states.
The third loss is the decrease of European support, which used to represent Iran’s protective shield against the policy of maximum pressure exerted by the United States. For the first time, the leaders of France, Germany, and Britain have blamed Iran for the attacks on Saudi Arabia.
The fourth is that the world is no longer talking about sanctions imposed on Iran, but has welcomed further measures; not to mention the conviction that the campaign of maximum pressure against the Iranian regime is the least that can be done to stop its destabilization of world security and stability.
Had Iran realized the foolishness of such aggression against Saudi Arabia and the amount of losses it would sustain, it would have never done it. The world stands ready to accept any measures whatsoever against the Iranian regime instead of the military confrontation pushed by Tehran.
Even such a confrontation - if it happens in the future - will no longer be between Iran on one hand, and Saudi Arabia and its US ally on the other, but between Iran and the world.
So what are the major gains achieved by the Kingdom and the significant losses incurred by Iran?! It is the unfortunate end Iran has never expected.
