Economic security in region will offset normalization push
By Syed Ali Hassan
Iran Daily’s correspondent in Pakistan
During a meeting with the UAE’s President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi on Thursday, Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said that the countries can form a major economic hub in the near future due to their unique geographical positions. To achieve this goal, he added, Iran and the UAE need to cooperate closely. As such, the two sides also discussed the need to speed up their joint cooperation in various fields.
As the follow-up to another significant recent development in the region, after a Saudi football club withdrew from facing the Iranian football club Sepahan in Isfahan, Iran, the foreign ministers of the two countries held a phone conversation to address the issue before the withdrawal caused too much bitterness on both sides.
Around the same time, it was also revealed that a recent survey conducted by the Economist has found that only two percent of young Saudi Arabians are in favor of normalizing ties with the Israeli regime. The finding came as a blow to Tel Aviv’s ambitions.
The establishment of relations with the largest Arab kingdom in the world may bring Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is facing a corruption investigation, a relief from domestic opposition.
Iran is unhappy with the possible establishment of diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel, but it has not been long since its relations with Saudis have turned bitter. Iran is currently just mostly observing how the push for the normalization of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia will unfold from the sidelines. Of course, through diplomatic efforts, Iran is trying to convince the Saudi monarchy that Riyadh should not recognize Israel until the liberation of occupied Palestine.
The thread that makes sense of these seemingly disparate events is the policy of the incumbent Iranian government, which is to create an atmosphere of security for Muslim governments, especially the Arab states of the Persian Gulf as strong economic hubs, so that Arab governments do not have to establish relations with Israel.