Al-Azhar and Egypt condemn the strikes on Arab neighbours
Al-Azhar, the Cairo-based seat of Sunni Islamic religious authority, condemned Iran's missile and drone strikes on the United Arab Emirates and Jordan on 31 August 2026, describing them as “religiously prohibited attacks against its Muslim neighbours” and rejecting what it called the “blatant” nature of the assaults, according to Ahram Online. Egypt itself had already condemned the same attacks earlier that Monday, “expressing deep concern over the continued assaults and the direct threat they pose to the security and safety of both countries and their peoples,” Ahram Online reported.
The dual statement from Cairo was a rare direct intervention by Egypt's leading religious institution into the six-month war between the US-aligned side and Iran. It came as the conflict widened for the first time since late July, spreading over the following three days to four more Arab states: Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Bahrain. Al-Azhar is based in Cairo and ranks among the most senior centres of Sunni Islamic scholarship in the Muslim world.
Respect the principles of good neighbourliness — Al-Azhar — Cairo-based seat of Sunni Islamic religious authority
Al-Azhar also called on all parties to “exercise restraint, resort to dialogue and wisdom, and work urgently to de-escalate tensions,” according to Ahram Online, and offered prayers for the protection of the region's peoples from the consequences of the fighting.
A war that had gone quiet for a month
The renewed fighting began on Sunday 30 August, when US forces struck two Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps launchers on Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz. US Central Command said its forces “took limited, precise action against IRGC minelaying forces posing an imminent threat,” after Iranian personnel were seen “preparing to launch rockets carrying sea mines into the strait,” according to Stars and Stripes. It was the first US strike on Iran since 29 July, in a conflict that had by then killed 18 US service members and wounded 759, Stars and Stripes reported.
Missiles and drones spread to Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain
Iran retaliated on Monday 31 August with ballistic missiles and attack drones against Jordan's King Hussein and Al Azraq air bases, and against Al Minhad Air Base in the UAE, Stars and Stripes reported. Jordan's military intercepted all eight missiles that entered its airspace, and no casualties or damage were reported at any of the bases. Iran said it had targeted areas of Al Minhad housing US personnel and helicopters, but the UAE's defence ministry denied the base had actually been struck.
The exchanges resumed on Tuesday 1 September. Jordan's military intercepted 13 more ballistic missiles fired from Iran, destroying ten and letting three fall in remote, unpopulated areas, with no casualties reported, according to The Times of Israel. Kuwait and Bahrain both activated air-defence systems against incoming Iranian drones the same day; Kuwait's army said it was responding to “criminal Iranian aggression,” Arab News reported, while Bahrain said every attack against it was intercepted.
- Jordan — intercepted all eight missiles fired at it on 31 August, then ten of thirteen more on 1 September, with the remaining three landing in unpopulated areas
- UAE — its air force responded to a drone detected over its territorial waters approaching from Iran; its defence ministry denied Al Minhad Air Base had actually been struck despite Iranian claims
- Kuwait — activated air-defence systems against incoming Iranian drones, which its army called “criminal Iranian aggression”
- Bahrain — activated air-defence systems and said every attack against it was intercepted
The exchanges continue into September
US forces struck Iran's Revolutionary Guards again on 1 September, which Central Command said followed “recent attempted attacks by (the Guards) against commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and against American service members deployed to the region,” according to Ahram Online. President Donald Trump said of Iran: “There will be a response.”
The US military completed further strikes on Iranian air-defence sites, radar systems and maritime assets on Tuesday 2 September, after which Iran launched ballistic missiles at Jordan, Arab News reported.
One of the US strikes that day hit a wedding venue in Kuhestak, in southern Iran's Hormozgan province, killing five people and wounding at least 68, Arab News reported, citing the province's deputy governor. It followed an earlier report on 1 September that a residential home had been struck during a wedding ceremony in Hormozgan province amid the exchanges, killing two people and wounding a number of others, according to an Iranian official cited by The Times of Israel.
Iranian state media also reported that the strikes hit civilian sites, including an airport in Kerman province, a fishmeal factory on Qeshm Island, fishing piers and port facilities, and that the exchanges damaged the power network in Hormozgan province, Arab News reported.
Ebrahim Azizi, a member of the Iranian parliament's National Security Committee, warned that Tehran's retaliation was not finished.
Make no mistake: these crimes will not go unpunished. — Ebrahim Azizi — member, Iranian Parliament's National Security Committee
Rising costs, and Egypt's exposure
Crude oil prices have risen more than 50 per cent this year, and US regular petrol has reached $4.10 a gallon, up from $3.19 a year earlier, Arab News reported.
Any further widening of the war matters directly for Egypt, whose economy is exposed both to the cost of imported oil and to shipping traffic through the Suez Canal — the two channels through which the six-month conflict has already been felt in Cairo.
For now, Al-Azhar's appeal for “restraint, dialogue and wisdom” and Cairo's own condemnation stand as Egypt's clearest public response to a war that, after a month's pause, has widened again to reach four more of its Arab neighbours, with no sign yet that either side is ready to stop.
