David Jones believes Iran's authoritarian approach, exemplified by its recent execution of Iranian wrestler Navid Afkari, should be more forcefully condemned by the UK. AFP
David Jones believes Iran's authoritarian approach, exemplified by its recent execution of Iranian wrestler Navid Afkari, should be more forcefully condemned by the UK. AFP
David Jones believes Iran's authoritarian approach, exemplified by its recent execution of Iranian wrestler Navid Afkari, should be more forcefully condemned by the UK. AFP
David Jones believes Iran's authoritarian approach, exemplified by its recent execution of Iranian wrestler Navid Afkari, should be more forcefully condemned by the UK. AFP

Editorial

Iran's idea of diplomacy is murder plots and political vendettas

Tehran was planning to kill US ambassador to South Africa to avenge Qassem Suleimani

The National Editorial
The National Editorial

September 14, 2020

  • English
  • Arabic

When Al Quds Force leader Qassem Suleimani was killed by a US strike on January 3, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed to take "severe revenge". Leaked reports revealed yesterday the extent to which the regime is willing to go to exact that revenge. US intelligence uncovered an Iranian plot to assassinate US ambassador to South Africa Lana Marks, in retaliation for Suleimani's killing, with involvement from the Iranian embassy in Pretoria.

That government officials were plotting to take a civilian, unarmed diplomat’s life as political vendetta is concerning. Far from being an isolated incident, which the Iranian leadership will doubtless frame as an attempt to seek justice or revenge, the murder plot is in line with Iran’s long history of targeted attacks on civilians.

For instance, in 2011 the Iranian government had plotted to assassinate Adel Al Jubeir, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the US at the time, who is now the kingdom’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs.

One year ago, almost to the day, Yemen's Houthi rebels claimed an attack on an Aramco facility in Abqaiq, Saudi Arabia, disrupting financial markets worldwide. The US and Saudi Arabia, however, have found evidence that the attack was carried out by Iran, not the Houthis. While the Abqaiq incident did not claim any lives, it escalated US-Iranian tensions further, jeopardising the security of the whole region.
For the past 40 years, Tehran has relied on escalation and force rather than negotiation and diplomacy to gain leverage over western nations. This strategy has turned Iran into a pariah. The country has been on the US list of state sponsors of terrorism since 1984 and its people have suffered from crippling economic sanctions for decades, as a result of Iran's aggressive behaviour. 
The Iranian regime since its very inception began taking foreigners and dual nationals living on its soil as prisoners in a game of hostage diplomacy. In 1979, 52 American diplomats and citizens were kidnapped for more than a year to exert pressure on their government. More recently, the latest victim of this strategy is British-Iranian charity worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. The young mother is serving a five-year prison sentence on bogus charges. She risks another 10 years in jail over new charges brought against her last week of "propaganda against the state". "I find myself hating everything in this life, including myself," she said recounting her renewed ordeal. "There is no escape."

Iranian government officials were plotting to take a civilian, unarmed diplomat's life as political vendetta

Nor is there any escape for Iranians demanding a better life. Last weekend Iran executed champion wrestler Navid Afkari, after a murder confession was extracted from him under torture. Activists believe he was sentenced to death and killed, despite international outcry and pleas for clemency, as punishment for taking part in anti-government protests in 2018. The killing of the 27-year-old athlete was meant to serve as an example for others, who may have been considering speaking out against the regime. But Afkari will be remembered as an example of Iran’s injustice towards its own people.

From South Africa to the Gulf and within Iran itself, Tehran has pursued its goals with little regard to human life or security. Its actions cannot seen as isolated incidents, rather as telling signs of a regime disinterested in peace.

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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