The war between Iran, the United States and Israel has quickly spilled into other Gulf nations that have vowed to retaliate over Iranian attacks, raising the risk of a wider and protracted Middle East conflict.

Following Saturday’s U.S. and Israeli attacks on Tehran and across the country, Iran has responded by launching waves of missile and drone strikes on several of its neighbours, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

Although most of those attacks have been intercepted by air defences, at least five deaths had been reported as of Monday, including three people in the UAE and one each in Kuwait and Bahrain.

Kuwait later confirmed two navy soldiers were killed on Monday while “carrying out duties” with its armed forces.

In addition, the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah targeted Israel, which responded with strikes on Lebanon, killing more than two dozen people.

The chaos of what’s unfolding became clear Monday when the U.S. military said Kuwait had “mistakenly shot down” three American fighter jets while Iran was attacking the country with aircraft, ballistic missiles and drones.

U.S. Central Command said all six U.S. pilots ejected safely and are in stable condition.

“It’s a giant mess,” said Rex Brynen, a political science professor at McGill University specializing in Middle East politics.

He and other experts Global News spoke with said Iran is seeking to increase the cost of a war with the U.S. and Israel by “suck(ing) the entire rest of the Gulf in.”

“They probably didn’t feel they could do enough damage to the U.S. per se, but perhaps by damaging U.S. allies, they could do so,” Brynen said.

Asher Kaufman, a history and peace studies professor at the University of Notre Dame, said Iran’s retaliation isn’t much of a surprise and that the U.S. and Israel likely would have prepared for it.

“(Iran’s) interest now is to entangle this war into a regional conflict,” he said.

“From an American and Israeli perspective, things are unfolding not very differently than what they may have been planning for all along.”

Global Affairs Canada said as of Monday, there are least 85,000 Canadians in the Middle East, more than 50,000 of whom are in the UAE, Lebanon or Saudi Arabia.

The U.S. and European nations have military bases spread across the Middle East, including in the countries Iran has been attacking.

Although Iranian drones and missiles have struck those bases, they have also hit at or near airports in Saudi Arabia, Iraq and the UAE.

Other civilian infrastructure has been hit by shrapnel and debris from Iranian projectiles intercepted by the air defences of Gulf nations, resulting in damage and dozens of injuries.

An Abu Dhabi complex housing the Israeli embassy and several other international missions was hit by debris Sunday, local officials said, while at least two homes were damaged by fallen drones in Dubai.

The UAE’s defence ministry said early Tuesday it was dealing with a new “barrage of ballistic missiles coming from Iran” and was taking steps to confront the threat.

In a statement Monday, the ministry said it had intercepted most of the 174 ballistic missiles and 689 drones Iran had launched at the country so far. The rest either fell into the sea or “within the country’s territory,” resulting in “collateral damage.”

“The country reserves its full right to respond to this escalation,” which the UAE considers “a blatant act of aggression and a flagrant violation of national sovereignty and international law,” the statement read.

The UAE earlier joined Gulf allies, including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait and Qatar, along with the U.S., in condemning Iran’s “unjustified strikes” on neighbouring countries.

“The Islamic Republic’s actions represent a dangerous escalation that violates the sovereignty of multiple states and threatens regional stability,” the joint statement Monday said.

“The targeting of civilians and of countries not engaged in hostilities is reckless and destabilizing behavior. We stand united in defense of our citizens, sovereignty, and territory, and reaffirm our right to self-defense in the face of these attacks.”

Qatar’s defence ministry, meanwhile, said Monday its air force had shot down two Iranian bombers and multiple missiles and drones.

In a letter on Monday, the country told the U.N. Secretary General and the president of the Security Council that it reserves complete right to respond to Iranian attacks on its territory, Reuters reported.

Also on Monday, Saudi Arabia’s Ras Tanura oil refinery came under attack from drones, with defences downing the incoming aircraft, a military spokesman told the state-run Saudi Press Agency.

That attack, along with threats to shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, is already driving up oil prices and could increase the economic cost of the war, experts told Global News.

Brynen said that, following the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other senior Iranian officials, the country’s armed forces have become “decentralized” without any political instruction on how to retaliate.

“Some of these (attacks on Gulf states) may be local initiatives by military commanders that aren’t necessarily plugged into a grand strategy,” he said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi appeared to acknowledge this in an interview with Al Jazeera on Sunday, in which he said a drone attack on Oman’s Duqm Port was “not our choice.”

“We have already told our armed forces to be careful about the targets they choose,” he said, noting that “independent and somewhat isolated” units were acting on “general instructions given to them in advance.”

Kaufman said whether the war strains relations between Arab allies and the U.S. or Israel largely rests on the outcome.

“It all depends on the survival of this regime, because at the end of the day, most Gulf states have no sympathy for the regime in Iran,” he said.

“If this regime falls, then most Gulf states — certainly Saudi Arabia — would be very happy. But if this regime survives this war, then I think then we would be able to ask the question of the effect of their relationship with Israel (and the U.S.).

—With files from the Associated Press

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