Recently, three summits were held for the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Mecca; relating Gulfs, Arabs, and Islam. The last summit was concluded on 31st May 2019. Dozens of Muslim leaders were present in all three, including Saudi Arabia’s own king. Several topics were discussed, amongst which were Iran’s recent actions.
Initial preparations
Many speculate that Saudi Arabia used these summits as a gateway to expand on its alliance power with regional countries against Iran.
These summits were originally planned to be held in Gambia (Africa), but Saudi managed to convince everyone to attend Mecca instead.
Given that Saudi Arabia managed to gather all the Arab and Non-Arab Muslim leaders in the same place and at the same time, is itself a huge sign of political success for Saudi Arabia. More so evident by the support it received from everyone in condemning the recent terrorist attacks on Emirates oil tankers as well as the missile attacks on Saudi’s oil facilities.
The outcome
As stated by Saudi’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Adel Al-Jubeir, “the message of OIC is loud and clear; OIC rejects the Iranian influence in regional affairs”.
The fraudulent regime of Mullahs
Despite such a clear message from the OIC, Iran’s regime insists to labels the recent summits as a “failure”. But we disagree for the following reasons:
– Saudi managed to hold all summits in one place and at one time; it even convinced Qatar (which was always closer to Iran than Saudi) to attend.
– The countries that Iran has constantly been influencing were all mentioned in the talks; Palestine, Syria, Yemen, and Iraq; which clearly revealed concerns around Iran’s activities in those regions.
– Almost all leaders (except Iraq’s) indirectly slammed Iran’s role in recent attacks.
Regime’s reactions
Iran’s regime has been reacting interestingly to the summits.
Rouhani for instance, expressed his disappointment for not being able to attend such a “noble gathering”.
Zarif on the other hand, stated: “we always welcome the Gulf countries, but a few have unfortunately chosen an unfriendly path; a path that we think is not just ineffective but also potentially dangerous, especially for them. We have never stood against them, and hope that we never have to. We are all neighbours after all, whether we like it or not. If you’re wondering why Mr Araghchi hasn’t visited those neighbours, it’s not because he didn’t want to, it’s because those countries chose not to meet with him”. Which is Zarif’s way of clarifying that Saudi Arabia rejects the friendly relations that Iran’s regime craves.
A look at the regime’s claims on Saudi Arabia
Following the summits in Mecca, a state newspaper in Iran published a piece titled “Saudi’s failed coalition at Mecca”:
“Iran’s smart diplomacy has been the main reason why Riyadh failed in recent summits; certain factors played a huge part in this failure, such as Mr Zarif’s recent visits to Iraq, his meeting with Qatar’s and Oman’s Foreign Ministers, as well as Mr Araghchi’s visits to three countries of Gulf Cooperation Council”.
In other words, the regime believes that Zarif’s proposal for the Persian Gulf to sign a nonaggression pact, has somehow played a part in the so called “failure” of Saudi Arabia.
But how can anyone trust a non-aggression agreement from the very same country that continuously intrudes on other countries as evident by its recent missile attacks?
The article adds: “the manifesto of the summit, 9 parts of which were relating Iran, did not reflect the stance of any of the leaders present”. But what’s funny about this claim is that almost all the leaders signed the manifesto, whereby they took a stand against Iran!
The impact of these summits
The impacts of these summits are yet to be revealed.
The most clear impact now is the strengthened alliance against Iran; let’s not forget the role of US in all this too; Bolton’s recent trip to emirates for instance, shows the emphasis of US on investing the attacks on oil ships, which means US may possibly escalate Iran’s actions to United Nations Security Council, which could easily jeopardise Iran’s regime.
The regional and global reshaping of anti-Iran politics is directly correlated with the consequences of ongoing sanctions which will only isolate and weaken the regime further in time.
Source » ncr-iran