I continue where I left off yesterday, regarding my conversation with a GCC Foreign Minister. I heard him attack Iranian policies consistently, and asked him hence whether he expected relations between GCC countries and Iran to improve in the future. He said these relations would deteriorate further first, before improving, and that any such improvement is reliant upon a change in Iranian behavior, but that he sees no signs of any such change for the time being. The minister complained that every stance uttered by Tehran appears as though it is aimed at provocation. He cited a statement by Rahim Mashaei, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's son-in-law and top adviser, in which he said that without Iran, Islam would be lost, and also cited his call for the Iranian school of Islam to be promoted. The minister asked me whether there could be anything more chauvinistic than that, and said that Rahim's opinion is also shared by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Iranian religious and political institution. I told the minister that the Iranian nuclear program is far from achieving its goals, and he responded by saying that its mere existence is cause for concern for the countries lying on the other side of the Gulf. He said that the Bushehr nuclear plant is closer to all Gulf capitals than to Tehran, and that he does not believe that this is a coincidence, and considers it to be a ticking bomb. I then asked him about the U.S. stance on the events in Bahrain, and he said that it started on the wrong foot, and that the Americans are with change, but that this has since improved after the Americans saw the unified position by the GCC in support of Bahrain. We then moved on to the revolution against Gaddafi's regime in Libya. He said that the international community cannot deal with Muammar Gaddafi after what happened. He reminded me that the GCC countries endorsed the UN Security Council's resolution to defend the Libyan people, and that Qatar and the UAE sent airplanes to participate in the implementation of the no-fly zone, and that indeed, the two countries' airplanes have carried out sorties as part of the international effort. I noticed that the U.S. War on Iraq started on 19/3/2003, while the American airstrikes on Libya started on 19/3/2011. The minister said that it is a different situation with Libya, but that his country supports Gaddafi stepping down, as no one in the world wants him. There is consensus regarding this. Responding to a question I asked, he said that he does not know whether Gaddafi would leave in days, weeks or months, but that he will leave in the end, and said that his country and all GCC countries support this. The minister also said that Egypt is undergoing a transitional period, and that the new rulers must be given a breathing space. Answering another question I asked, he said that he is optimistic regarding Egypt's future, but that the whole world must help them, especially the Arabs, to overcome the difficult phase, and added that this is the position of all the GCC countries, not just his country. The minister said that the problem is fundamentally economic, but that the continuation of the Arab-Israeli conflict, on the other hand, exacerbates problems. This conflict will be at the forefront of any political shifts in Egypt, and will feed extremist voices. In his opinion, this does not mean the Muslim Brotherhood or Salafi groups specifically, but also other forces from all sides of the political spectrum. In the end, Egypt is the weighing scale of the region, and if this scale is upset, then the whole Middle East follows suit. I asked him what the way out is, and he reiterated that we all have to help Egypt, and that the first step to reduce tensions in the region is for the international community to seek to render the Middle East a WMD-free zone, including Israel and Iran. When I expressed my fear that the economic gains achieved by Egypt in recent years may be lost, the minister said that history shows us that every revolution begins as a rational movement but ends up being radicalized, and that the country does not get back on the right path except after paying a lofty price. For his part, he expressed concern and said that while we now hear reasonable, decent and rational voices in Egypt, these voices may become marginalized and may give way to the extremists to rule, if the world, including the Arabs, does not help Egypt. The minister insisted on the need to protect the revolution in Egypt, and for the outside world to understand Egypt's status among the Arabs, and in the whole region. According to the minister, the affairs of the region could not be set straight unless the affairs in Egypt were also set straight. The minister is an old friend with whom I sometimes disagree without this affecting our friendship (which started before he became minister). I found him, as he went over the affairs of the region with me, vacillating between hope and despair. However, he remained steadfast and unequivocal in his support for Bahrain: The latter and all other GCC countries are a single file and a red line against foreign ambitions. [email protected]
