New Delhi, March 26 -- In a joint statement on Thursday (local time), Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) signalled their intent to act in "self-defence in the future."

The development comes as they condemned Iran over its "blatant" and "criminal" attacks targeting its energy infrastructure ever since the US and Israel waged a war against Tehran in late February, which, in retaliation, targeted the Gulf countries, CNBC reported.

The states stressed that attacks launched from Iraqi territory by armed factions and Iran-backed proxies were a particular grievance and called it a breach of international law.

Condemning the attacks, the joint statement read, "While we value our fraternal relations...