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The role of regional actors like Israel and the Gulf monarchies is critical here. For Tel Aviv, the strikes represent the fulfillment of a long-standing security imperative, but they also place the country on a permanent war footing. For the Gulf states, the situation is even more complex; they sit on the front lines of any Iranian retaliation, caught between their reliance on U.S. security guarantees and the physical reality of their proximity to an enraged neighbor.
