Tough Iran policy 'a gift for Gulf neighbours'

Dubai: The aggressive foreign policy of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been a "gift for Arab states that want to dodge democratisation", said Dr Mohammad Hafezian, of the Islamic Azad University in Tehran.

The strident anti-Americanism of Ahmadinejad has been part of the reason that American policy in the Middle East has focused on resisting Iran, to the exclusion of much of its previous policies which included requiring more democracy in the Gulf.

Hafezian was spelling out the present Iranian view of how the balance of regional interests has shifted in Iran's favour in the past few years, which has threatened the much-valued Iranian-Saudi rapprochement of the 1980s. He was presenting a paper to the 30th Gulf Studies Conference at Exeter University in Britain.

'Shiite Crescent'

He argued that a few years ago several leading Arab states like Saudi Arabia and Jordan had made a point of emphasising the dangers resulting from the emergence of a "Shiite Crescent", spreading from Iran through Iraq to south Lebanon.

Hazefian commented to Gulf News during the conference that as part of the post 9/11 reaction in the Middle East, the US had jumped on this notion of a "Shiite Crescent" and made a lot more of it than it deserved, since it coincided with the neo-conservative view of the Middle East, and provided the Americans with a ready-made opponent to fight.

This trend was greatly helped by Ahmadinejad's election as president of Iran in 2005, and his government's development of foreign and nuclear policies that deliberately infuriate the American administration, as well as fulfilling Ahmadinejad's regional and internal political aims.

Looking around the present day Arab states, Hafezian saw much more confident Shiite communities emerging, encouraged by the creation of the first Shiite-led Arab government, ironically in American-dominated Iraq.

However, Hafezian did not translate this increased confidence across the Arab world into a single movement (sometimes called the Shiite Rise).

He pointed out that Shiites are not homogenous and come from many origins. He also said they have differing motivations and political groupings that range from the religiously radical to the profoundly secular.

This variety of Shiite motivations was one reason that Hafezian used to support his argument that Shiite developments in the Arab world are not a threat to the Arab regimes.

He argued that Saudi-Iranian relations should not be harmed by present events.

He pointed out that King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia had worked hard to improve relations with Iran's previous President Khatami, despite both countries acknowledging their regional political rivalry.