Gulf states fear U.S.-Iran deal

The Persian Gulf Arab states are fearful of a deal between Iran and the United States that would address the nuclear issue but leave Tehran with control over Iraq, Courcy’s Intelligence Brief reported April 25.

The pro-government Saudi daily al-Riyadh, for example, wrote about a U.S. nuclear deal with Iran in which the first step would be “handing over Iraq’s affairs to Iran and total cooperation with it over Afghanistan,” and in which the end result will be “once again tightening the bilateral [Israeli/Iranian] cordon around the Arabs’ neck … to be followed by full recognition of the Zionist entity and Iran as a regional power.”

The Gulf states have good reason to be worried. As Trumpet columnist Joel Hilliker wrote back in 2007, “We can certainly expect the U.S. to become far more comfortable with Iran’s influence in Iraq, a scenario the Trumpet has forecasted for over a decade” (Dec. 5, 2007).

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad confirmed Iran’s obvious ambitions with regard to Iraq during a two-day visit to Tehran by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Sunday. “Should Iran and Iraq stand together, there would be no place for the enemies of the people in the region, including the U.S. and Israel,” Ahmadinejad said following a meeting with Maliki.

Though a U.S.-Iran deal may not seem particularly likely at present, we can expect America’s tolerance of Iranian belligerence to continue, stoking the concerns of anti-Iranian Arab states. Such fears will encourage these states to tighten alliance with Germany and other European countries to counter Iran’s growing influence in the region.