Iran unlikely to back Russia’s Persian Gulf security initiative after 40-day war
By Delaram Ahmadi
Staff writer
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has outlined a proposal for Persian Gulf security during a visit to Iran, calling for the participation of littoral states alongside the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council. This comes as Iran, following the 40-day war, insists that the Strait of Hormuz should be managed exclusively by Iran and Oman. In an interview with Iran Daily, Javad Heyrannia said Iran had previously put forward a similar proposal to Russia’s, but it was not welcomed by the Arab states of the Persian Gulf. In the aftermath of the 40-day war, however, Tehran is no longer inclined to pursue such an approach to ensuring security in these waters.
IRAN DAILY: Given the differences in regional countries’ security perspectives and the presence of extra-regional actors, how viable is Russia’s proposed initiative, and to what extent does it align with Iran’s position?
HEYRANNIA: Russia first put forward a practical initiative for collective security in the Persian Gulf in the late 1990s. It updated its collective security proposal to some extent in 2019 and submitted a further revised version to the United Nations in 2021. The initiative emphasizes that the security of Persian Gulf countries should be ensured with the participation of the countries themselves. It also calls for a confidence-building process among regional states to develop a shared understanding of threats and pursue ways to address them through bilateral or multilateral diplomacy.
The proposal also envisages a role for observers from outside the region and extra-regional powers. In subsequent stages, this security-building mechanism could pave the way for the establishment of a regional security institution bringing together Persian Gulf countries, including the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states and Iran.
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