By Vestnik Kavkaza
2013 shows that the situation in the Middle East can lead to the establishment of a new world order, and the countries of the Persian Gulf may play a big role in it.
Another change of power in Egypt triggered an ambiguous reaction not only from Moscow, Brussels, and Washington, but also from the Gulf countries. “Saudi Arabia supported the coup and supports the new authorities. Qatar considered the overthrow of President Mursi illegal. There is no unity on the question among members of the Cooperation Council,” Yelena Melkumyan, professor of the Department of Contemporary Oriental Studies of the RSUH, says. “The new situation is connected with the talks with Iran and the signed accords in Geneva on the Iranian nuclear program. It changes the situation in the Gulf region and the whole Middle East as well.”
The Iranian factor influences the policies of the Gulf countries a lot. According to Melkumyan, “in recent years relations between them have been very tense. Saudi Arabia declared that Iran was its main rival in the region; other countries of the Cooperation Council approached the possibility of an Iranian nuclear weapon and the problem of Iranian policy, meaning interference in the internal affairs of another country, very strictly. And the acts of the organization state this directly. Today Iran is trying to improve relations with the Gulf countries, making efforts, but it faces certain mistrust. The Gulf countries are not sure that Iran will fulfill all its obligations and reject the project of making a nuclear weapon.”
Melkumyan added that the other problem is the hegemonic views of Iran: “It tries to be not only a leader of the Gulf region, but also a leader of the whole Middle East. Look at its role in the Syrian crisis, its role in Lebanon, its ties with Shiah organizations, its role in developments in Bahrain, when riots took place there. It shows that Iran tries to act through various Shiah extremist organizations and destabilize internal political situation in these countries.”
However, when Iran got an advance from the leading world powers, its position in the region changed. “On the one hand, the Gulf countries will make efforts to improve relations with Iran; on the other hand, they are improving their security. The new relations between the United States and Iran do not guarantee that the USA will support Saudi Arabia, its partners in the Cooperation Council, and won’t support Iran. In this new situation their positions became more complicated. From this point of view, it is good for relations between Russia and the Arab countries. The Arab countries understand that they have to have good relations with all the leading world powers.”
The ambassador of Iran in Moscow, Mehdi Sanai, has another view on regional politics: “Three different projects were held in the region with foreign players. The first was a project of Islamophobia, i.e. making up a very severe image of Islam in the world. The second project was a project of Iranophobia, i.e. they tried to make up a dark and inflexible image of Iran on the international arena. The third project was creating disputes between different religious and ethnic groups. All these three questions were considered in the program of foreign policy of the new Iranian government. Iran wants to make relations more sincere and intends to eliminate concerns over the nuclear program. Iran tries to fight a general fight against extremism and stirring up religious and ethnic hatred in the region. As for preventive measures for religious peace, including between Sunnis and Shiahs, the Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Khomeini warned about possibilities of such problems long ago. He calls them “treason.” Concerns which exist in the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf are nonsense. We will try to eliminate them through our cooperation.”
