Iran agreement raises concerns for the Gulf

What the Arabic language press is saying about Iran, Mr Obama and the GCC. Translated by Carla Mirza

The “framework nuclear deal” with Iran, signed in Lausanne on April 2, has been described as a historic breakthrough by president Obama. The interim agreement has yet to become an actual deal but has nonetheless created an uproar in the GCC countries’ public opinion, reflected in media reports and causing quite a few scowls among GCC leaders.

Salman Al Dossari, writing in the pan-Arab daily Asharq Al Awsat, asked what precious gifts president Obama gave Iran?

“Did the ‘Axis of Evil’ deviate to the point that the president of the mightiest country in the world is wooing one of the key countries on this axis?” he asked.

“Obama crowned his two terms as president with an abstract ‘historical’ agreement with Iran. Not only is he turning the page to mark the beginning of a new era with Tehran, but he is telling the ‘Sunni Arabs’ that Iran is no threat to them, telling them that the real threats are ‘internal’ to their own countries.”

He noted that the peculiar and redundant terms used by Mr Obama when he cited ‘Sunni Arabs’ and ‘Sunni states’, reflecting a sectarian reference. While entire nations are being referred to in this way, he does not refer to Iran as the ‘Shiite State’.

“What surprises have you in store for us yet Mr Obama? I wish they had not given president Obama the Nobel Peace Prize,” he continued.

“After receiving it, he began confusing matters to the point where he swapped the concepts of peace and war. Now, following the nuclear deal with Iran, neither his deeds nor his words are of any reassurance to GCC countries and such confusion on behalf of Mr Obama is neither reassuring to those he calls the ‘Arab Sunnis’ nor to the Republicans in the US, who believe Mr Obama to be dangerous.

“The Bush administration committed a major diplomatic blunder during its negotiations with Iran, indirectly sending out the message that the US is incapable of waging war against it because of its nuclear project.

“Mr President, no one denies the existence of challenges within the Gulf communities and that they are worthy of government attention to prevent them snowballing. Everyone agrees on this.

“Exaggerating these to turn them into an ‘outrage’ is far more dangerous that what Iran is doing to countries in the region. It is an approach that does not suit the president of the world’s mightiest country.”

The editorial of Dubai-based daily Al Bayan said the agreement with Iran could partially or fully alleviate the concerns of the western states.

“But it has not – nor will it – dispel the concerns of the countries of this region, because legitimate fears springing from the behaviour of Iran outside its borders are quite extant and real without the nuclear weapon,” it noted.

“Iran occupies three Emirati islands, an issue unrelated to the nuclear one, but it is a substantial Emirati and Arab matter when it comes to Iran. So is Iran’s negative intervention in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen, leading to conflicts and instability”.

“From this standpoint, the GCC countries consider any limitation or elimination of weapons of mass destruction anywhere in the world as a positive step, but this is not all that is required to dissipate the concerns of Iran’s neighbours about its policies.

“Following the agreement in Lausanne, finding alternative ways to establish true neighbourly relations has become a necessity,” the editorial concluded.

*Translated by Carla Mirza