Middle East scholar Dr. Edy Cohen assesses that Gulf states are divided over Iran, with half of them declining to send a delegation to the funeral of Iran's late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. According to Cohen, these countries do not want to engage with Tehran. The claim is a single-source opinion post circulated via Israeli social media channels.
Middle East scholar Dr. Edy Cohen posted an assessment on Sunday morning, citing what he described as behind-the-scenes developments at the funeral of Iran's late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Cohen claims that Gulf states are divided — half of them did not send a delegation to the funeral, indicating a reluctance to engage with the Iranian regime. The post did not identify which specific states he was referring to, nor did it cite an official source. The claim adds to a broader narrative in Israeli commentary about Gulf-Israel alignment against Iran, but remains an unverified single-source opinion. As The Zioneer previously reported, Iran itself claimed that 13 states withdrew from the funeral due to US pressure, while Saudi Arabia did send a high-level delegation that drew its own commentary.
Source and signal
A single-sourced dispatch is never rated Confirmed or Strong. Its Signal strengthens only when a second, independent source corroborates it.
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