We must stand up to the Iranian audacity

The pieces of the jigsaw are coming together and from the perspective of Gulf states, the picture is not pretty. The Cold War has been resurrected by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who regrets the break-up of the Soviet Union, Russia’s loss of superpower status and his own passive compliance with George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq that hit Russia’s pocket to the tune of $8 billion (Dh29.42 billion) in unfulfilled deals and resulted in the mushrooming of US military bases throughout the region. Driven also by the European Union’s (EU) encroachment near its territory, the Bear is on the rampage.

In his determination to muscle back into the area, Putin has few scruples about forging unholy alliances with anti-western countries. Unlike most of the world, Moscow has little fear of a nuclear-armed Iran. Indeed, it is one of Tehran’s major weapons suppliers and for years has provided Iran with nuclear technology and hardware. Today, it actively supports Iran’s nuclear programme with know-how and reactor components — and benefits from trade deals amounting to more than $4 billion annually.

Russia constantly warns that striking Iranian nuclear sites would be disastrous. And, in August, the Russian Foreign Ministry warned Washington not to impose unilateral sanctions on Iran or else face a deterioration in Russian-US relations.

Further, Moscow has blocked attempts by the international community to use UN sanctions or military intervention to halt the carnage in Syria and actively props up Iran’s closest ally Bashar Al Assad, a genocidal monster, responsible for the deaths of more than over 33,000 of his own people and the destruction of huge swathes of Syrian towns and cities, levelled by Russian-made tanks and attack helicopters. Keeping Al Assad in power is essential to Iran’s ambitions for regional dominance when Syria acts as a supply route for Iranian proxies.

In this game of one-upmanship between Russia and the US, Putin can now add another notch to his belt — Iraq. This supposed democratic nation has been gifted by western allies to Iran — and, by extension, to Moscow. The Iraqi government is made up men who make few decisions without a green light from Tehran or Qom, which is why Iraq is one of just three Arab League member nations that objected to the League’s appeal for Al Assad to step down.

America’s finest political minds would have been unbelievably naive to expect gratitude from Iraqis. But I doubt they predicted that the Nouri Al Maliki government would leap aboard Russia’s ship with such alacrity. Iraqi Prime Minister Al Maliki’s recent visit to his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev was sealed with the restoration of bilateral cooperation in numerous fields.

October 9 signified a higher watermark in the blossoming relations between Moscow and Baghdad. Russia announced the signing of a $4.2 billion arms contract to include MI-28 attack helicopters and Pantsir-21 surface-to-air missile systems. Since Iraq and Iran are virtually joined at the hip — I’ve long warned of the potential for an Iranian-Iraqi federation — this move increases the Gulf states’ vulnerability. Mark my words! There will come a time when those weapons will be aimed at us.

Iran is becoming ever more belligerent. It has revived an old, debunked territorial claim to Bahrain, has bullied airlines to use the term “Persian Gulf” rather than “Arabian Gulf” and made threats to Gulf oilfields and the Strait of Hormuz. So I was not surprised at media reports, quoting an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, indicating Iran was mulling cutting diplomatic ties with the UAE over its legitimate demands for the return of three islands — Abu Mousa and the Greater and Lesser Tunb — forcibly occupied by the Shah in 1971.

My initial thought was: ‘What kind of joke is this? In the first place, Iran is not our ally and never has been. Secondly, with Iran’s economy and currency wilting under UN, US and EU sanctions, it needs us, one of its main trading partners, substantially more than we need it. Clearly, somebody high up in the Iranian government thought the same. The Iranian Foreign Ministry swiftly went into damage-control mode by dismissing the reports as untrue.

True or untrue, it is time we prove to Iran that the days when it felt free to trample on our dignity are over. We should immediately close the embassies of GCC countries in Tehran, bar Iranian aircraft from our airspace, instruct banks to freeze the accounts of Iranian officials and ban all forms of commerce and trade. We should also prevail on friendly Arab neighbours to follow suit.

Such steps will be in line with the sentiments of most UN Security Council member nations towards Iran. Anything that contributes towards Iran’s international isolation will assist in bringing about the Ayatollah’s downfall from inside. Indeed, recent anti-government demonstrations, triggered by the dramatic currency slide, indicate Iran’s business community is already disillusioned with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s government.

Until the Iranian people decide to free themselves from oppression and rejoin the community of freedom-loving nations, the GCC should have nothing more to do with this pariah state.

As I have said time and time again, Gulf states must unify under a Gulf-wide federation, fortify their joint sea/air/land borders and create a single powerful military capability so we can stand up as main players instead of pawns.

Khalaf Al Habtoor is a businessman and chairman of Al Habtoor Group.