PERSIAN GULF — Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are considering a shift to a more offensive military posture against Iran after repeated Iranian drone and missile attacks since February 28. Iran has fired thousands of drones and missiles at U.S. military and diplomatic facilities since the war began on that date.

Iran has damaged key energy infrastructure in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait since the war began on February 28. Iranian forces have choked off passage through the Strait of Hormuz, affecting global oil and gas exports.

Saudi Arabia agreed to allow U.S. forces to use the King Fahd air base near the Red Sea in southwest Saudi Arabia. The kingdom expelled Iran's military attaché and four embassy staff on March 21, citing continued Iranian attacks on Saudi territory.

"Patience with Iranian attacks is not unlimited," Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan said. "Any belief that Gulf countries are incapable of responding is a miscalculation."

Iranian drones and missiles have targeted key oil refineries in Saudi Arabia in the past three weeks. Iran struck the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh. Iranian drones and missiles have damaged oil and gas facilities and caused power blackouts in Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait.

The United Arab Emirates closed a hospital, a social club, and several schools linked to Iran in recent weeks. The United Arab Emirates closed the Iranian Hospital, a state-affiliated health facility in Dubai, last week. "The country would not be blackmailed by terrorists," said Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister.

Saudi Arabia had pledged that its airspace and military facilities would not be used to attack Iran.

"In practice, 'joining the war' would most likely mean greater access for U.S. forces to bases and airspace, tougher enforcement against Iranian commercial and financial networks in the Gulf, and tightly limited defensive military actions -- not an open-ended bombing campaign on Iran," said Christopher Davidson, a scholar of Middle East politics and fellow at Durham University. Davidson said the approach would be "mostly indirect, carefully calibrated support to the U.S., which restores deterrence against Iran, deepens security ties with Washington, and constrains Iranian leverage without triggering major escalation on Gulf oil." He warned that "the worst-case outcome is that deeper, especially offensive, involvement by Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates helps fuel a cycle of Iranian and proxy attacks that damage energy facilities, disrupt shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, scare off investment, and drags them into a long, expensive regional war."