، الأمــن الخليجــي، 2026 الحــرب الأميركية/الإســرائيلية، إيــران كلمــات مفتاحيــة: مضيــق هرمــز، التصعيــد الإقليمــي.
Abstract: Between 28 February and April 8, 2026, the United States and Israel waged a 40-day air and missile campaign against Iran, resulting in the killing of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and a large number of senior Iranian officials in its opening hours. The war prompted retaliatory Iranian attacks against all Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, despite their non-involvement in the conflict—some of which had made strenuous efforts to spare Iran and the region its consequences prior to its outbreak. It also reopened the Lebanese front through Hezbollah and led to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. This paper argues that the 2026 war was not an abrupt event, but rather the expected culmination of an escalation that had unfolded over three years, beginning with the war on Gaza in October 2023, passing through the " Twelve-Day War " in June 2025, and erupting at a particularly critical moment for Iran. Notably, this war represents the first joint US–Israeli war in the region, the first regional conflict in which GCC states were bombed simultaneously, and the first large-scale Israeli–Iranian war following the confrontations of 2024 and 2025. Its implications extend beyond the regional level to the international arena across political, economic, defence and security dimensions. Although the completion of this paper coincided with the announcement of a two-week ceasefire on 8 April—mediated by Pakistan between the United States and Iran—the ceasefire left the core strategic questions that ostensibly triggered the war unresolved, with the possibility of renewal or an escalation into a broader and more intense conflict. This paper aims to provide a concise documentary and analytical overview of the 2026 US–Israeli war on Iran by examining its context and causes, its key phases and turning points, as well as its dimensions and implications. Keywords: US-Israeli war, Iran 2026, Gulf security, Strait of Hormuz, regional escalation.
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