Write a 5 pages paper on relations between iran and the gcc: less growth and more global tension. According to Cronin and Masalha (2011), the relationship between Iran and GCC countries has been marred by rifts since the US invasion of Iraq and the re-emergence of revolutionary activism within the Iranian political leadership.
Early this year, the GCC asked the Iranian government “to play a constructive role in the region and to cease interfering in the internal affairs of the GCC Member States and other countries in the region” (GCC, 2011). This paper aims to support the idea that Iran’s interferences in the domestic and regional affairs of GCC countries pose threats and instability in the region.
Since the 1980s, Iran’s relations with its neighboring Gulf countries had been tense following the country’s efforts to spread the Islamic revolution in the region. More recently, the growing concern with Iran has a lot more to do with its influence and role in GCC countries. With the US occupation of Iraq, many perceived Iran to be enhancing its opportunity to spread its strategic interest and reinforce its power in the Gulf region.
In fact, according to the study of Burke et. al. (2009), Iran’s danger to the GCC countries mainly stems from the five perceived threats posed by Iran. These enumerated threats include: 1.) Iran’s ambition to acquire nuclear weapons and long-range ballistic missiles. 2.) its support for international terrorism. 3.) Iran’s opposition to the Middle East peace process and its rising political influence there. 4.) its offensive military buildup. and 5.) its threat to the stability of the Gulf States. These political activities and ambitions by the Iranian government have been viewed by GCC states in the same perspective.
However, in the report by Dergham (2011), it was revealed that the view on how to deal with the threat of Iranian intimidation and aspiration of power differs from one GCC country to another. For instance, Kuwait has been apprehensive by the recent discovery of Iranian spy cells in the country to which the GCCs condemned as “undermining Kuwait’s security, its national stability, and interests of its citizens”.
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