[R-G] Rasha Saad and Doaa El-Bey: Iran's Not the Problem

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

An MRZine article gets a mention in this Al-Ahram Weekly article. -- Yoshie

<http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2007/851/re6.htm>
28 June - 4 July 2007
Issue No. 851

Iran's not the problem
It takes more than complaints for the Arabs to curb the Iranian
influence in the region. Rasha Saad and Doaa El-Bey report

During a visit to Syria this week, Mohamed Reza Baqeri, the Iranian
deputy foreign minister for Arab-African affairs, explained that
following Iran's Islamic Revolution in 1979 his country has adopted a
friendly and sincere attitude towards Arab states. However, he added
that some Arab states treated Iran "unkindly".

He specifically referred to a statement released by the Egyptian
Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit in which he accused Iran of aiding
and abetting Hamas and thereby threatening Egypt's national security.

Some political analysts saw this statement as a sign of a shift in
Egyptian policies while other pundits were more inclined to dismiss it
as resulting from foreign interference and pressure.

Mohamed Abdel-Salam, a researcher at the Al-Ahram Centre for Political
and Strategic Studies, sees Abul-Gheit's statement as a significant
Egyptian policy shift and reflective of the belief that current
conditions in the Middle East make the re-establishment of diplomatic
ties between Egypt and Iran unfeasible at present.

"Furthermore, there is substantial and credible documentary evidence
supporting claims that Iran has been funding Hamas and several other
resistance organisations in the Palestinian territories for some time.
Hamas members have also undergone military training in Iran,"
explained Abdel-Salam.

However, another source close to the Iranians described Abul-Gheit's
statement as an act of premature and exaggerated choreography ahead of
the Sharm El-Sheikh summit. The source concurred, too, that Egypt is
not ready to establish full diplomatic ties with Iran, at least in the
near future.

But Gamal Salama, a professor of political science at the University
of Suez, ruled out that Iran was involved in the takeover of Gaza:
"this is merely a strategic mistake on the part of Hamas and an
indication of the failure of Fatah. It is purely a Palestinian
internal affair," he said.

In response to Abul-Gheit's assertions, Salama attributed the change
in Egyptian policy to external pressures, possibly from the US or the
Gulf states.

Unlike the extensive media coverage given to Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad's statement last month that Iran was ready to re-establish
diplomatic relations with Egypt, Abul-Gheit's remarks were not given
any prominence in the local newspapers.

Abdel-Salam explained that this lack of coverage was due to the
Egyptian Foreign Ministry downplaying the importance of Abul-Gheit's
remarks. "Instead, the headlines focussed on the crisis in Gaza.
Besides, newspapers are sometimes reserved when they write about
sensitive issues," he added.

There have been many questions raised about the absence of full
diplomatic relations between Egypt and Iran especially since Egypt and
Israel are the only two states in the Middle East that do not have
relations with Iran. Although the controversial naming of a street in
Tehran, despite protests from Cairo, is allegedly one of the reasons
behind the freezing of relations. Many political pundits, including
Salama, believe this is just a feeble excuse to obfuscate the real
issues involved.

Iran named one of the main streets in Tehran Khaled El-Islamboli,
after one of the assassins of president Anwar El-Sadat in 1981. Later,
the street name was changed to Intifada, after the Palestinian
uprising. But in an effort to appease conservatives who regard
El-Islamboli as a hero, a large mural of El-Islamboli was erected and
remains in the same street, despite repeated Egyptian requests for its
removal.

"If the Gulf states have relations with Iran, I can't think of a
reason why Egypt shouldn't," Salama said. Knee-jerk reactions, based
on emotive reasoning, are not a sound basis for relations between
states, he said.

Abul-Gheit accused Iran of supporting Hamas's takeover of the Gaza
Strip and "since Gaza is only a stone's throw from Egypt, this
represents a real danger to Egypt's national security," he added.

A month ago, Abul-Gheit described Ahmadinejad's proposal to establish
relations with Egypt as positive. He added that he would discuss this
with his Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki when he visited Cairo
but to date this meeting has not materialised.

But if Abul-Gheit's remarks were not a true reflection of Egypt's
official stance vis-à-vis Iran, other states in the region remain
highly vocal in warning of Iran's growing influence in the region.
Both Saudi Arabia and Jordan accuse the Islamic republic of meddling
in the region's internal affairs with the intention of creating a Shia
crescent in the region.

Iran holds many important cards in the region: its involvement in
Iraq, its nuclear programme and its close relationship with Syria, and
Hizbullah in Lebanon. Furthermore, it supports Hamas and Islamic Jihad
in Palestine and has close commercial ties with influential states
such as Russia, China and Germany. Iran also has a strong
relationships with the Northern Coalition in Afghanistan.

However, for analysts observing Iran's foreign policy it is no secret
that Iran has always seen itself as a regional power so it is logical
that it would try to get political mileage out of opor tunities coming
its way.

In this context, according to analysts and numerous Western reports,
it is further rational that Iran would take advantage of the situation
in Iraq following the miscalculations by the US administration, which
literally handed the Islamic republic a present on a silver platter.

Additionally, the vacuum left by the Arab states, has further aided
Iran's regional ambitions. However, while Iran's support for Lebanon's
Hizbullah is justified in the eyes of some, their role in Iraq has
been strongly criticised. According to Salama, Iran's role in Lebanon
is morally acceptable because the Islamic republic supports a
resistance organisation which enjoys both Arab support and legitimacy.

However, Iran's role in Iraq is seen as "destructive" and
counter-productive on the grounds that it empowers and supports the
sectarian militias and parties which are also the backbone of the
US-dominated political process.

Despite the fact that both Iran and the US are finally having a
dialogue about Iraq's security, the pressure on Iran regarding its
nuclear ambitions is believed to be a US attempt to curb Iranian
influence in the region. In an attempt to increase pressure on Iran,
world powers are currently in the process of drafting a new resolution
to further strengthen two previous UN resolutions imposing sanctions
on Iran.

The draft of the resolution reportedly includes banning Iran Airlines
from world airports and flying through international airspace. It also
recommends preventing Iranian ships from using world sea ports or
navigating in international waters, in addition to freezing its
financial assets and the transfer of funds to at least one Iranian
bank.

The news of tougher sanctions came despite reports of progress between
Iran and the International Agency for Atomic Energy (IAEA) whose
inspectors will visit Iran "as early as practicable".

This announcement followed talks between IAEA Director-General Mohamed
El-Baradei and Iran's chief negotiator Ali Larijani this week.
Larijani reportedly invited the IAEA to send a team to Tehran to
develop an action plan for resolving issues related to Iran's nuclear
programme.

For many analysts Iran will never be another Iraq for many reasons
including the US failure to create a united front against Iran and the
country's ability to withstand full sanctions due to its
self-sufficiency. Nonetheless, there are some who fear a military
strike against Iran is forthcoming.

Political analyst Jamil Theyabi asserts that Iran's regional meddling
is widespread and a threat to some of the more stable Middle-Eastern
countries. He further warns that Iran could be the target of a
military attack by next autumn.

"Can anything be done before it is too late, before the Iraq scenario
reoccurs in Iran, because of the arrogance of Ahmadinejad's policies
and those who stand behind his government?" he asked.

Further exacerbating the situation is the faulty policies of the Arab
countries. Analysts point out that the absence of progressive Arab
governments in the area and their subordination to imperialism disable
them from positively influencing the region either diplomatically or
militarily.

Thus an increasing Iranian role in the region is the natural outcome
of this state of affairs. A situation, analysts warn, will be
exploited by either American and Israeli Zionist ambitions or Iranian
designs for hegemony.

For Jordanian writer Hisham Bustani, the main enemy of all
anti-Imperialists, and of the Arab liberation movement, is US
imperialism and Zionism. Any other problems are secondary. "Therefore,
those who say that Iran is more dangerous than the US or Iran is more
dangerous than Israel" lack objectivity and furthermore, their
analyses serve the interests of US imperialism," Bustani stated.

He further explained that portraying Iran as the main regional threat
to the Arab states risked turning the US and Israel into provisional
allies facing a common enemy in Iran.

This line of reasoning has recently been repeated by several Iraqi
factions, even while the Saudi and Jordanian regimes repeat their
warnings in regard to Iran. Such counter- productive disagreements
further fragment Arab unity in Iraq, Palestine and Lebanon when they
should be supporting one another, he added.

"Making Iran the Arabs' number one enemy diverts the Arab masses away
from the real danger of Zionism and American imperialism," concluded
Bustani.

Cf.
<http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/bustani250607.html>
Setting Priorities Straight in the Struggle:
On Iran and the Iranian Role in the Arab Region
by Hisham Bustani
--
Yoshie