MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political commentator Maria Appakova) - A number of meetings on the Greater Middle East took place in the UN headquarters in New York this week. One of them was of particular interest.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice initiated a meeting between the Security Council members and Germany on the one hand, and Arab countries on the other, to discuss Iran.
It was the first time that the West had invited regional states to discuss Iran on such an official level. On the Arab side, the meeting was attended by Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia.
Secretary Rice emphasized that the discussion was not aimed at drafting a common strategy on Iran. What, then, was its purpose?
Bahrain Foreign Minister Sheikh Khaled bin Ahmed Al Khalifa said that the meeting was devoted to regional security, but how can the United States and Britain discuss this subject without focusing on ways of exerting pressure on Tehran? On the eve of the meeting, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband bluntly told journalists that Iran's nuclear program was being increasingly viewed as a threat to the entire Middle East. Indicatively, Iran's best friends in the Gulf, Qatar and Oman, refused to take part in the meeting.
By and large, the meeting was designed to support the new administration that will take office in Washington next month. The Arab countries wanted the Security Council members and other countries to understand that they should also have a say in discussing the future of the Gulf and Iran. This is only natural, considering they remember well what happened in Iraq. Ms Rice may deny the discussion of a common strategy on Iran, but this is largely inevitable if President-elect Barack Obama hopes to succeed in this direction.
He may start dialogue with Tehran from scratch, but much depends on whether Washington has gained a better understanding of the Middle East in general and Iran in particular.
Does the current Iranian government need dialogue with the West? The West may demand that Iran give up not only its nuclear program, but also renounce support for some regional forces, including the Palestinian Hamas and Lebanese Hezbollah. In other words, Tehran may lose its levers of influence in the Middle East, and cease to be what it is today.
Obviously, Mr Obama will need help and advice from the Gulf and other Arab countries in drafting any strategy in the Middle East, not to mention an anti-Iranian strategy.
The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.
