Iran’s missile test on Sunday has opened doors that will be hard for it to close, particularly within the framework of relations with United States President Donald Trump, said the London-based Pan-Arab Al Quds Al Arabi.
“It is clear that the Iranian leadership is feeling the heat over the latest missile test. Any escalations pertaining to Iran will surely be welcomed by the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, and the people of at least four other nations that are currently facing an Iranian invasion of their entities, as it tears apart their social fabric by instigating a bloody [sectarian] conflict ... The Arabs will not flock to the aid of their neighbour. Meanwhile, Arabs being content with the US fuelling the racist fire against Islam under the excuse that it will put Iran in check might be risky, particularly since this fire will eventually reach them like it has done to others.”
Iranian policies are sparking worries on a global scale due to numerous reasons, said UAE’s Al Bayan.
“These reasons include adopting a sectarian rhetoric, a policy of aggression that is based on intervening in the internal affairs of others and its support for chaos, in addition to supporting terrorist and extremist groups. These actions bring forth doubt on whether Iran wants to be treated as a state by the rest of the world. This policy that invests internal resources into foreign unrest is a strong push towards tougher international policies against the country. This calls for the international community to unify efforts so that Tehran can renounce its policies that are based on unsettling stability, especially in a world that sorely needs nations that raise hope and optimism, and can be partners in preserving stability and ensuring a good future.”
What he himself had accounted as one of his biggest foreign policy achievements was in fact president Barack Obama’s greatest failure, said the Saudi Gazette. “Obama and his secretary of state John Kerry had rejoiced when the impact of a collapsing economy brought the Iranians to the negotiating table in Geneva. But thereafter, everything went wrong. The minute [Tehran] was given access to its frozen billions in banks around the world, the Iranian regime quickly moved them to banks less likely to respond to renewed financial sanctions. This week, Iran carried out a test of a medium-range ballistic missile in flagrant contravention of the deal it had signed.
“The Trump White House and Republicans on Capitol Hill are rightly looking to act decisively in response to this blatant violation. But thanks to Obama’s deeply ill-judged lifting of sanctions the options open to Washington have been severely limited.”
While Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has insisted that his country’s ballistic missiles would only be used in self-defence, he studiously ignores Iran’s other methods of aggression, said Lebanon’s Daily Star. “Iran provides its proxy militias in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Lebanon with support in the form of men, material, arms and training, all the while intimidating and provoking states like Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. The countries affected by Iran’s machinations are waiting to see in which direction this latest US action will go, especially as they have been bitten by the promises and policies of many in the past ...”
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