Gulf Cooperation Council member states have agreed to set up a forward headquarters for the bloc’s Unified Military Command in Kuwait and to deploy appropriate forces there, according to Saudi Arabia’s Al-Ekhbariya channel, which cited the council’s secretary-general.

The announcement came after the 23rd meeting of the GCC Joint Defense Council, held in Bahrain and attended by the defense ministers of the member states.

The GCC comprises Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman, all of which are allied with the United States.

What do you need to know?

The bloc formed the Unified Military Command at a summit in Kuwait in December 2013. It was tasked with planning and running joint military operations and bolstering member states’ defensive capabilities against potential threats to their territory, airspace, waters and interests.

The decision comes as the Gulf states, most of which host major US military bases, assisted the US and "Israel" in the war on Iran, and subsequently came under repeated retaliatory Iranian missile and drone strikes.

It is worth noting that Iran has repeatedly said that US military bases and economic assets in the Gulf region have been used to launch acts of aggression against Iran, including attacks that have resulted in civilian casualties. In this framing, any Iranian action targeting such facilities is a retaliation against hostile military activity originating from or enabled by those bases.

Read more: Iran rejects GCC alignment with US, calls out double-standards