Rethinking Gulf Security Architecture in the Wake of the Israeli Attack on Qatar and Iran–Israel War

Workshop Concept:

This workshop comes at a critical time in the evolving security architecture of the Gulf states. It aims to take stock of recent events, namely the Israeli attack on Doha in September 2025 and Iran-Israel War in June 2025, which have affected Gulf security arrangements and alliances. The workshop will produce interdisciplinary analysis of these changes, as well as explore potential future directions of Gulf security, whether these involve bilateral or multilateral alliances, or comprise shifts in domestic politics. We invite scholars from the fields of political science, international relations, conflict resolution, and security studies to assess how the war—and its regional reverberations—have reshaped security strategies and foreign policy behavior across the Gulf states.

The workshop encourages contributions that examine both continuity and change in Gulf security strategies since 2017, with a focus on how the Iran–Israel confrontation, Iranian and Israeli attacks on Qatar, the war on Gaza, the Abraham Accords and normalization processes, and shifting great power dynamics have altered the Gulf’s external alignments, defense priorities, and internal political calculus. The discussion will be situated within the broader arc of Gulf foreign policies in the past decade, including the aftermath of the GCC Crisis, the war in Yemen, and the Saudi–Iran détente.

Contributors are invited to provide critical insights into various aspects of U.S.-Gulf relations, including but not limited to:

• Conflict and Security Post-Iran–Israel War

• • Gulf defense cooperation and collective security efforts.
  • Maritime security in a volatile Red Sea and Gulf.
  • Impacts of the Iran–Israel war on Houthi threats and regional proxy dynamics.
• Economic Drivers of Security Policy
  • The role of arms sales and defense procurement in economic diversification.
  • Strategic investments in military-industrial capabilities.
  • Security implications of energy transition and cross-border infrastructure.
• Domestic Political Influences on Security Policy
  • Leadership styles and threat perceptions among Gulf rulers.
  • Elite politics and national identity narratives in security framing.
  • Defense and national security bureaucracies.
• The Future of Gulf Security Architecture
  • The prospects for a formal GCC security pact or regional NATO-like alliance.
  • U.S. security guarantees versus Chinese and Russian strategic alternatives.
  • Security regionalism, mediation diplomacy, and military neutrality as policy tools.