In what could very well be his last visit to the Middle East as president of the United States, Barack Obama met King Salman and leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council last week. The visit was widely perceived as an attempt to restore fraught relations with the GCC following the nuclear agreement with Iran.
The former editor-in-chief of the pan-Arab daily Asharq Al Awsat, Abdel Rahman Al Rashid, argued that “the summit is a perpetuation of the Camp David summit held a year ago, when the president met with GCC leaders before signing the nuclear deal with Iran. Since that summit, the state of affairs between Riyadh and Washington hasn’t improved and Iran has deepened its involvement in Syria, Iraq and Yemen that has resulted in deepening regional instability.”
The writer argued that the United States has failed to provide adequate assurances to its Gulf Arab allies in the year since the Camp David summit. The lack of assurances has worried the countries of the Arabian Gulf.
“At the same time, Iran and its allies have spared no effort in expanding influence throughout the region by taking advantage of instabilities in countries and threatening the peace and security of the GCC countries,” the writer continued. Put simply, continued wars in the region have left little room for GCC member countries to cooperate with an America that plans to open up to Iran.
“After the Gulf summit in Camp David last year,” Al Rashid argued, “the United States was expected to match the lifting of sanctions on Iran with a stringent policy towards Iran’s nefarious expansion, and handle Tehran’s threats to countries in the region. Such balance was not achieved.”
Iran has been included in regional negotiations pertaining to the crisis in the region – despite the fact that Iran’s military hand is clearly visible in the many war-torn countries of the Middle East and the country has been oblivious to United Nations Security Council resolutions prohibiting the arming of rebels in Yemen.
“At the Camp David summit, the Gulf states had pledged not to oppose the international agreement signifying to the US that they are not against the principle of reconciliation between Iran and the West, but against Tehran’s policy of exporting chaos and revolutions to countries of the region.
“There lies the flaw in US relations with Saudi Arabia and its GCC neighbours. Washington cannot show openness to Iran and at the same time let Tehran threaten the security of the region and the interests of these countries.
“During the remaining months of his term, should Mr Obama wish to preserve his project with Iran and maintain special relations with the Gulf, and Arabs in general, he can achieve it by shifting the balance and correcting imbalances incurred by the nuclear deal and subsequent negotiations. GCC countries cannot stand idly by and watch Iran dominate Syria, Iraq and Lebanon while it acts against them in Yemen as well,” Al Rashid concluded.
In the Abu Dhabi daily Aletihad, the sister newspaper of The National, columnist Mohammed Khalfan Al Sawafi said the political realism of Gulf countries confirms that the ambitions of the Gulf are no longer limited to stopping Iranian expansion. The GCC seeks to open new doors with countries such as Russia and China.
“The GCC is also trying to formulate national and regional positions as alternatives to relying on one single superpower. This trend reflects the Gulf’s perception that the United States is not a charity, it is a major country seeking its own strategic interests and objectives.”
The writer observed that countries of the Gulf must take advantage of this period and diversify their international and regional relations, so as to restore regional balance. Such a transformation would send a powerful message to the United States, which is also redressing its regional footprint.
“US neglect of the region’s security and stability issues no longer burdens GCC decision-makers. The shift functioned as a catalyst for positive change, taking Americans by surprise,” the writer argued.
“Recently, Gulf states have entered into multiple alliances to pursue regional and international interests and deal with the political vacuum caused by recent US policy decisions. Relations will never go back to what they were before the signing of the nuclear deal with Iran without guarantees that respect international obligations,” concluded Al Sawafi.
* Translated by Carla Mirza
cmirza@thenational.ae
