Live updates: Follow the latest news on Iran war
Since the start of the Iran war on February 28, few countries have publicly announced sending military support to Gulf states, after those countries faced Iranian attacks.
Iran has fired thousands of missiles and drones at cities, military bases, airports and energy infrastructure across the region. The six Gulf states have managed to limit the damage, intercepting the vast majority of attacks.
Despite the scale of the Iranian aggression, details of the support offered remain scarce. Most countries with defence ties to the Gulf have not disclosed the assets they sent. Here is what is confirmed:
Pakistan and Saudi Arabia
Pakistan sent fighter jets and support aircraft to King Abdulaziz Air Base in Saudi Arabia, a move confirmed by the Saudi Ministry of Defence on April 11. This was the first known activation of the Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement signed in September 2025, which treats an attack on either country as an attack on both.
The aircraft landed in the Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia's oil heartland. It is home to Saudi Aramco's headquarters, the Ras Tanura oil terminal and the Abqaiq processing facility, all of which are a few hundred kilometres from Iranian shores and have been among the most heavily attacked sites of the war.
The timing carried diplomatic weight, as US and Iranian officials were in Islamabad negotiating a fragile ceasefire.
The Pakistan Air Force operates F-16 Block 52+ fighters, JF-17 Thunder multirole jets, developed alongside China, and Mirage III/V fighters, with a total combat fleet of about 400 aircraft. Pakistan's military, which has about 560,000 active personnel, is the sixth-largest in the world.
UK and Gulf
The UK is the only other country with confirmed deployments to Gulf states, all announced by Defence Secretary John Healey and Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Its support to Saudi Arabia includes the Sky Sabre air defence system – radars, a control node, missile launchers and a Royal Artillery battery – integrated into Saudi and regional air defences. Sky Sabre can engage up to 24 targets simultaneously and track aircraft to a range of up to 120km.
The UK also sent four additional RAF Typhoons to Qatar to join the existing joint No 12 Squadron. By March 9, the UK Defence Ministry confirmed eight jets were flying defensive missions over Qatar. The country's Al Udeid Air Base, the largest US military base in the Middle East, had already been hit by an Iranian missile in early March.
In Bahrain, the Lightweight Multirole Launcher, a short-range missile system, was integrated by UK experts into the Gulf country's air defences. Bahrain, home to the US Navy's Fifth Fleet, was among the first targets of Iranian attacks on the opening night of the war.
The UK sent the Rapid Sentry ground-based air defence missile system to Kuwait. The system is operated by the 34 Squadron, which has had a presence in the country stretching back to the 1990 Gulf War. Britain also sent the RAF's ORCUS counter-drone system, which is designed specifically to detect and track Iranian Shahed drones early.
At the end of March, a few days before the ceasefire was announced, Mr Healey said the total UK deployment across the region was approaching 1,000 personnel, with British jets having exceeded 1,100 hours of defensive flying since the conflict began.
