We have not seen strikes like these across the Middle East before. Iran appears to be striking US targets in several countries at once, with blasts heard from the beaches of Dubai to the streets of Doha.

Things are moving fast. It’s not clear if those explosions were the sound of missiles being intercepted, or hitting their targets.

What is clear, however, is that the Iranian regime views this as an existential moment. They are going fast and aggressively. When the United States and Israel last struck Iran in June, they targeted the regime’s stockpile of ballistic missiles, hampering its ability to retaliate. Iran could be trying to make use of its arsenal while it still has it.

What is also clear is that the regime is not thinking about its relationships with its neighbors and wants to punish the US at any cost. Any country that hosts a US military base appears to be a target – the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait. There may be more.