Iran must end its interference across the Arab world and it should seek to become a genuine neighbour and friend of the countries in the region. The recent successful nuclear talks have proved that Tehran is perfectly able to engage constructively with the outside world when it wants to. But its continuing support for militias and regimes in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen, and its backing for divisive movements in countries like Bahrain and Afghanistan, prove that Iran has deliberately chosen to remain steadfast in seeking destabilisation all over the region.
UAE Foreign Minister Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan spoke this week about the need for Iran to accept that it must stop this menacing interference in regional affairs. He noted the profound dangers implicit in Iran’s constitution, which is the only one in the region that requires the government to continue to export its national revolution.
Shaikh Abdullah rejected the notion that Iran is allowed to export its sectarian ideology and he described Iran’s continued efforts to destabilise the region as “dangerous work”.
The UAE foreign minister was speaking generally of Iran’s policy of interference, but he made specific reference to how Iran’s maverick and dangerous policy is damaging prospects for a political solution in Syria. He said that restoring stability to Iraq and Syria and ending their mutual crises, require Iran to stop interfering in Arab affairs. “Everybody should recognise that there is no military solution to the crises in these two countries, that a political solution is the one everybody should endeavour to reach,” he said.
The establishment of an inclusive government, that includes all the components of the people in both countries, is a necessary starting point for any long-term peace. It is a disaster that efforts in Syria to move forward are being sabotaged by Iran’s long-term backing for the regime of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad.
But despite the continued Iranian interference, Shaikh Abdullah found some welcome optimism from the efforts of United Nations Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura in getting the groundwork done for all actors in the Syrian crisis and especially from the two world powers of the United States and Russia to use their influence and work to make the Vienna talks successful.
If the outside powers can agree that talks should happen, in the hope that they can put pressure on the combatants to stop fighting, then it is a necessary precursor for starting a substantive peace dialogue.