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Iran and Gulf states make tentative diplomatic moves
[Al Ahram] United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed on a rare visit to Iran on Thursday called for a partnership with Iran, but suspicion remains despite Tehran's tentative overtures towards its Gulf neighbours.Mostly Sunni Moslem Gulf Arab states are wary of Iranian influence in the Middle East, fearing the Shi'ite-led country is seeking regional dominance and stirring sectarian tensions. Improving relations with regional countries is a central plank of Iran's diplomatic policy under its new president, Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif, who will visit Kuwait and Oman next week. "We are neighbours but do not confine ourselves to this and are calling to be partners," Sheikh Abdullah was quoted as saying by Iran's official IRNA news agency. Zarif, speaking after the meeting with Sheikh Abdullah, who also met President Rouhani, said peace would benefit everybody in the region. "We see the progress of countries in the region as a success and any type of danger as a threat to them. Security and development cannot be separated and we see relations with regional countries as taking this form," IRNA quoted him as saying. They made no mention of a long-standing dispute between the two countries over the ownership of a small group of Gulf islands, or of accusations by the Gulf Cooperation Council, to which the UAE belongs, that Tehran has plotted attacks in Bahrain. The GCC consists of Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... , Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, the UAE and Oman. Zarif was quoted on Wednesday by Kuwait's state news agency as saying he would visit Kuwait and Oman next week. He added he also planned to visit Saudi Arabia but had not yet set a date. On Tuesday, Iran's former president, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani ... the fourth President of Iran. He was a member of the Assembly of Experts until he was eased out in 2011 He continues, for the moment, as Chairman of the Expediency Discernment Council. In 2005 he ran for a third term as president, ultimately losing to rival Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was in Khamenei's graces back then. In 1980 Rafsanjani survived an assassination attempt, during which he was seriously injured. He has been described as a centrist and a pragmatic conservativewithout all that much reason. He is currently being eased out of any position of actual influence or power and may be dead by the end of 2012... , said he wanted better relations with Saudi Arabia in an interview with the Financial Times. Rouhani and Zarif have stressed greater regional stability as a priority, arguably an attempt to blunt the opposition of Gulf countries, particularly Saudi Arabia, to Tehran's newly minted nuclear deal with world powers. Posted by: Fred 2013-11-29 |
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