Iran did not play it safe

13 April 2011 | 16:31 Code : 11740 General category

An interview with Ali Bigdeli, professor at Shahid Beheshti University and a foreign policy analyst

IRD: the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council that was established based on economic and social objectives, consists of six Arab countries; Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, and Qatar. Following Iran’s criticism of Saudi Arabia for sending its troops to Bahrain, the Arab members of this council decided to deal more decisively and severely with Iran in the future. Perhaps their reaction to Iran stems from the necessity of unity among member countries. Ali Bigdeli, professor at Shahid Beheshti University and a foreign policy analyst, believes that if crises in neighboring countries influence another country, that country has the right to react.

IRD: How do you assess the new Persian Gulf Cooperation Council statement against Iran? Do you think that major changes have occurred in Iran’s relations with Arab countries?

AB: Iran’s relations with Arab countries faced some complexity after the Revolution; especially at the time of war, most Arab countries united with Iraq against Iran and they delivered some aid to Iraq. However, after the war and during President Khatami’s time, tensions were reduced in the region through the changes he applied in Iran’s foreign policy. Ahmadinejad’s trip to Mecca and his friendly visit with King Abdullah reduced tensions to some extent as well. Nevertheless, the subject of the “three islands” (in the Persian Gulf) was a pillar of relations that would be referred to in the case of a slightest conflict between the Arabs and Iran.

Therefore, our relations in the Persian Gulf region was a destabilized one, even before the recent developments, but now with these new developments and crises these relations will face even more critical times. The influence of these crises is very clear in our relations; our support of Bahraini Shias brought about a harsh statement accusing Iran of direct intervention by the council. The issue of Iranian spies in Kuwait also helped fuel the crisis.

IRD: Iran’s objection is that the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council constitution states that the member countries are allowed to help another country in case of foreign intervention, but currently it is the Bahraini people who are rising up against their government and therefore Saudi Arabia had no right to intervene. Is this right in terms of international conventions?

AB: Any country has the right to help its neighboring countries during the time of a crisis; that is, if that crisis influences its security. In other words, international law states that if a center of threat exists neighboring a country, that country has the right to comment and act on that threat in order to prevent it. According to international relations, this is not considered an act of intervention. The fact that we have ethnic and religious links with the majority of the Bahraini people who are Shias and of Iranian origin gives us the right to worry about the events going on in that country. However, we have to be careful in our response in such situations so that it will not lead to severe reactions from the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council.

The Persian Gulf Cooperation Council has said that the security of one member is related to the security of the other members. Therefore, what Saudi Arabia did was for the security of all the members. This issue exists in the UN charter as well. Regional councils usually set their principles according to the UN charter. But in this case, if a country faces problems with its own people, other countries have no right to intervene. Perhaps the reason why Saudi Arabia deployed troops to Bahrain was that both countries had similar situations in terms of their small populations, and maybe due to the similar fate awaiting both kingdoms.

IRD: Foreign Minister Salehi has announced that one of his goals is to improve our relation with Saudi Arabia; do you think there is any room left for this improvement with what has occurred so far?

AB: It is true that Mr. Salehi is trying to improve Iran’s foreign policy in the region, but these issues were not predictable. In the current situation, the issue has gone to higher levels than the foreign ministry, and other strategies have to be devised. We have to stop fueling this issue, which Iranian officials did not abide by during the past few days. In international law, countries that have such events happening at their borders have the right to object and even move troops to their borders . Nevertheless, explicit revengeful statements will not be appropriate.