by Dr. Edy Cohen
Leading commentators in the Arab world have strongly condemned the nuclear agreement, which they believe will not drive oil prices down, but will also turn Iran into a nuclear and economic power, which will use its newfound strength to undermine the Gulf states' financial stability, and even threaten their national security.
For the first time in
history the Arab states are united, but this time not against Israel but
against Iran. The Islamic republic's neighbors, especially Saudi
Arabia, do not believe the statements made by the White House and
several European nations on the nuclear agreement.
This is not a historic
agreement that will inspire stability in the Middle East. On the
contrary: A covert war has been being waged for years between Shiite
Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia and, if anything, the agreement is expected
to increase tension and speed up the nuclear arms race in the Persian
Gulf, whose nations fear Iran's aspirations to dominate the region.
Leading commentators in
the Arab world have strongly condemned the nuclear agreement, which
they believe will not drive oil prices down, but will also turn Iran
into a nuclear and economic power, which will use its newfound strength
to undermine the Gulf states' financial stability, and even threaten
their national security.
These commentators have
leveled harsh criticism at U.S. President Barack Obama, accusing him of
taking sides in the Shiite-Sunni war. Obama, they argue, has favored
Shiite Iran over the Sunni states for several reasons, primarily Iran's
war against the Islamic State group, and America's own narrow economic
interests. U.S. arms sales could potentially skyrocket through sales to
Iran or its enemies, which will seek to protect themselves from the very
nation with which the U.S. signed a deal.
The recent statements
by senior White House officials, as well as U.S. Secretary of State John
Kerry, have only corroborated what the Arabs already know: Iran's
animosity toward other Gulf states was never considered during the
negotiations. As far as the U.S. is concerned, the deal seeks to prevent
Iran from getting nuclear weapons -- not to protect other Arab nations.
Many Arab commentators
believe Obama has sold his Arab allies out as he did Israel, and see the
deal as a failure of Arab diplomacy.
Iran has a long history
of cruelty and oppression against its Arab neighbors. In 1971, for
example, the Islamic republic occupied the Greater and Lesser Tunb
islands, as well as Abu Musa island in the eastern Persian Gulf, to
which the United Arab Emirates laid claim. Iran's move illustrated the
danger it poses to its neighbors, and sovereignty over these three
islands remains contested to this day.
Iran has also
repeatedly claimed that Bahrain is a province of the Islamic republic,
citing the Shiite majority in this small island country was proof of the
legitimacy of its claim. Bahrain, for its part, has accused Iran of
subversion.
The Iranian efforts to
destabilize other Arab countries via subversion and aiding Shiite
groups, and other dissident groups, have considerably aggravated tension
in the Persian Gulf. The Iranians are lending logistical, financial and
military support, to Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime, the Shiite
groups in Lebanon (including Hezbollah), the Houthi rebels in Yemen and
the Shiite groups in Iraq.
Iran sees itself as a
regional empire and its strategy aims to substantiate its clout in the
Persian Gulf and Middle East. The collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime in
Iraq, the American withdrawal from Iraq, and Iran's fight against
Islamic State, has provided Iran with a rare opportunity to expand its
influence over other countries in the region.
Unlike Obama, the Arab
nations have long realized that undercutting Iran's nuclear ambitions is
their top priority, as Tehran's military, financial, and religious sway
over the region spells a strategic threat to their national security.
A post-nuclear-deal
Iran would pose a far bigger threat to the moderate Arab states -- a
situation that may provide a golden opportunity for Israel and these
nations to foster closer relationships.
Edy Cohen is a research fellow at Bar-Ilan University.
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=13275
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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