Reservations emerge over proposal for Gulf to form a European-style union

Plan to develop the GCC into a fully fledged union similar to that of Europe has proven divisive, with Oman saying it would opt out if the idea was approved.

Omani foreign minister Yussef bin Alawi bin Abdullah (left) and Kuwaiti deputy prime minister Sheikh Mohammed Sabah Al Salem Al Sabah at the regional security summit in Manama on December 7. Oman has already said it will opt out of a plan to develop the GCC into a fully-fledged union. Mohammed Al Shaikh / AFPShow less

Arabian Gulf leaders will meet tomorrow to discuss a proposal to form a union of nations, at a time of regional turmoil and overtures of cooperation from Iran.

The six members of the GCC fear a landmark nuclear agreement reached last month could herald a wider rapprochement between the West and their regional rival Iran.

But a proposal to develop the GCC into a fully fledged union similar to that of Europe has proven divisive, with Oman saying it would opt out if the idea was approved. The group also includes the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain.

“The summit is held amid extremely sensitive and delicate situations that require member states to study the consequences for the GCC,” said Abdullatif Al Zayani, the secretary general.

Saudi Arabia proposed a Gulf union in 2011 as the Arab Spring gathered pace and Bahrain, which experienced protests, supported it.

Kuwait and Qatar have since come around to the idea, while the UAE has not yet adopted a firm position.

But foreign minister Yusuf bin Alawi of Oman, which has closer ties to Iran, on Saturday expressed opposition to the idea. “We will not prevent a union, but if it happens we will not be part of it … we will simply withdraw” from the body, he said.

Meanwhile, Saudi’s former intelligence chief yesterday said the GCC should be party to the Iran talks.

“I suggest that the negotiations on Iran not be limited to the P5+1,” Prince Turki Al Faisal said at the Manama Dialogue, a Middle East security conference in Bahrain.

“Iran is in the Gulf and any military effort will affect us all, let alone the environmental impact” that Tehran’s uranium enrichment programme could have on the region, the influential Saudi royal said.

The two-day GCC summit in Kuwait comes a week after the Iranian foreign minister, Mohammed Javad Zarif, visited Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the UAE to reassure officials over the interim nuclear agreement.

The agreement, struck in Geneva between Tehran, the US, Britain, Germany, France, China and Russia, would freeze some of Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for partial sanctions relief.

Relations with Iran “are entering a new space different from the past – a space that is extremely positive and constructive”, Khaled Al Jarallah, Kuwait’s foreign ministry under secretary, said after Mr Zarif’s visit.

But Mr Zarif did not visit the most influential GCC member, Saudi Arabia, although he said he planned to do so in the future.

“Iran is trying to exploit the momentum generated from the nuclear deal and Saudi Arabia is trying to repulse this push,” said Khaled Al Dakhil, a Saudi political analyst.

“Tehran is trying to create a wedge between Saudi Arabia and some GCC states, like Oman and Qatar.”

Washington’s commitment to ensuring security in the region has been a main point of debate at the Manama summit.

The US secretary of defence, Chuck Hagel, assured the summit on Saturday of his country’s continued diplomatic and military role in ensuring Middle East security, but Gulf analysts and officials speculate that the GCC states may be casting around for new security partners.

Possible candidates include the rising military powers of Asia that have long been the main buyers of Gulf oil, although India on Saturday ruled out filling the breach if Washington decided to reduce its military footprint in the Gulf.

“Because of the philosophical constraints that we impose on ourselves, we don’t see ourselves as a replacement for any other power,” said India’s external affairs minister, Salman Khurshid.

“We certainly don’t believe that the presence of any other power, such as China or Japan, or what have you, would necessarily contribute to the security of the region.”

Security concerns in the region have also been raised by the increasingly sectarian civil war in Syria, in which Saudi Arabia backs the Sunni-led rebels and Iran is a key ally of the president Bashar Al Assad’s regime.

Kuwait’s foreign minister, Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al Sabah, has said Syria would be high on the agenda at tomorrow’s summit.

GCC leaders are also expected to discuss Egypt, where Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait strongly backed the July 3 military overthrow of the Islamist president Mohammed Morsi, whose government was seen as close to Qatar.