Corporate personnel face mounting perils from the surge in fighting between Iran and the United States.
All takeoffs and landings at Kuwait International Airport were suspended on Saturday due to Iranian missile and drone attacks that prompted several alerts in Kuwait City.
Bahrain International Airport also saw serious flight disruptions due to Iranian air attacks on Saturday, when the US Embassy in Manama issued an alert saying it had information that Iran might target the city center.
Regular operations resumed at both airports yesterday.
But with no end in sight to the escalation in Iran-US hostilities, further flight disruptions are likely.
Bahrain ominously today said that Iranian drones had targeted civil air navigation systems causing no operational problems.
Iranian missiles targeted the Jordanian Red Sea port of Aqaba yesterday hours after the US Embassy in Amman warned that the airport and seaport there were evacuated by Jordanian authorities due to a “credible threat” of attack. All of the missiles were intercepted and there were no reports of damage or casualties.
Aqaba is a hub for cruise ship passengers who disembark to visit the renowned ancient ruins nearby at Petra and the small local airport and the local seaport were used by some of the foreigners who left the country after the US and Israel launched their air war on Iran on 28 February.
Air alert sirens also sounded in Amman yesterday.
Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain host US military bases that have come under repeated Iranian missile and drone fire since 7 July, when the current surge in tit-for-tat attacks between Iran and the US began.
Qatar, which also hosts the US military, has seen some Iranian air attacks in the past two weeks.
Oman has experienced at least a couple of Iranian drone strikes separate from the surge in Iranian fire on ships, radar installations and other targets near the country’s shore of the Strait of Hormuz, which sits opposite the Iranian shore of the strategic waterway.
Saudi Arabia is not reported to have come under recent Iranian drone or missile attack this month, reflecting its quiet recent outreach to the Iranian regime.
The US today staged air attacks on Iran for a ninth consecutive night.
The Iranian regime’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has responded with regular missile and drone attacks on US allies and scored a success by killing two US military personnel on Friday at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan. The strike also left one service member missing in action and over 20 injured.
Seventeen US military personnel have been killed since the war began.
Since late last week, the US has expanded its bombing of Iran, hitting targets hundreds of miles from the Strait of Hormuz.
In another notable shift, it and the IRGC began attacking civilian as well as military targets.
Kuwait has suffered disproportionately, with power and desalinization plants struck in recent days and multiple military and civilian casualties reported.
As worrisome as the current exchanges are, Iran and the US both continue to hold back from all-out attacks.
In a sign that mediation efforts continue, Iran’s Foreign Ministry today said it had received unspecified new proposals.
But with each passing day, de-escalation becomes more difficult for both sides.
At worst, developments could spin out of control, leading to the resumption of all-out war that would include major IRGC missile and drone attacks on the Gulf Arab countries, Jordan and Israel.
Personnel may undertake important business travel to the Arabian Peninsula south of Turkey with the exceptions of Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen.
Personnel traveling to the Gulf Arab countries, Jordan and Israel should monitor Iran-related tensions constantly. They and their employers should be cognizant that commercial flights could be disrupted if US-Iran hostilities escalate and that employers would bear the responsibility of repatriating stranded personnel.
Personnel in the Gulf countries should steer well clear of US diplomatic facilities, oil and gas infrastructure, and military bases – all of which are prime Iranian missile and drone targets. They should monitor the advice of local authorities and their embassies. In the event of an air attack alert, personnel outdoors should seek shelter and those indoors should give wide berth to windows. High-rises are not ideal places to be during air attack alerts, and those in one should keep in mind that underground parking garages are relatively secure from drones but not immune and that stairways rather than elevators should be used in the event of drone attack or fire.
Personnel in Israel should remain well clear of the border with Lebanon, where a fragile truce is in place between Israeli troops and the local Shia militia Hizbollah, an Iranian proxy. They should familiarize themselves with the nearest bomb shelters and be prepared to heed air attack alerts and related instructions from authorities.
Personnel in Jordan should monitor advisories from local authorities and their embassies.
