In what looked like a referendum on Iran’s policies and orientations towards neighboring countries and the issues of the Arab and Muslim world, came the results of the Islamic summit held recently, to confirm the rejection by all Arab and Islamic countries of the policies of Iran and its ideological expansionist project in the region.
The final statement was shocking to Iran and its delegation to the summit. Tehran did not expect all this rejection and consensus of the Muslim world against its attitudes, practices and policies, which means that the mullahs did not read the regional situation well and did not notice the seriousness of their bullying policies and practices that they have adopted in recent years with an striking expansion that raises the concern of all Arab and Islamic capitals.
One of the reasons for the absence of an accurate Iranian vision of Islamic attitudes lies in the arrogance that blinds the eyes of the mullahs and the Revolutionary Guard commanders, and prevents their perception of the facts around them that are as evident as the sun in a sultry summer. They thought that the nuclear deal means the release of Iran’s hand in the region without paying attention to the will of its countries and peoples, as Iran feels that it got a “green light”, internationally, to act in the region in accordance with its will and aspirations, and this is not worthy of a State that alleges, day and night, its commitment to the interests of the Islamic States and peoples.
The conspiracies of Iran in the region do not need witnesses or evidence, there is a coarse Iranian interference through local agents in Yemen, a direct and an indirect intervention in Iraq and Syria, an indirect interference in the internal affairs of the Kingdom of Bahrain through the repetition of false allegations, and there are attempts to practice State terrorism through a show of strength involving Iran missile tests, which Tehran does not stop from displaying in the face of the countries of the region, and the remarks of General Mohammad Ali Jafari, commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, in early April, represent a manifestation indicative of this obnoxious aggressiveness. Indeed, Jafari threatened both Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, pointing to the readiness of his plans and projects to respond to the recent decisions of the Gulf, and he was preceded by the explicit threat of a leadership of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard General Saeed Ghasemi, who claimed at the end of March the annexation of the Kingdom of Bahrain to Iran, claiming that “Bahrain is an Iranian truncated province.”
In light of the above and others, it was not a surprise to any observer of the situation in the region that the Istanbul Islamic summit issued a statement condemning the “interference of Iran in the internal affairs of countries in the region, and other member States, including Bahrain, Yemen, Syria, Somalia, and the continuation of its support for terrorism.”
As it was no surprise that the statement condemns the “Hezbollah” for carrying out terrorist acts in Syria, Bahrain, Kuwait and Yemen, and for its support to terrorist movements and groups that destabilize the security and stability of Members of the Organization. The behavior of Iran since the entry into force of the nuclear deal in January, suggests that Tehran has decided to adopt a hard power approach in achieving its regional strategic objectives. In Syria, Tehran did not comply with the ceasefire agreement, and it announced a few days before the start of the second round of Geneva 3 negotiations, last Wednesday, that it was sending special forces of the Iranian brigade 65 to Syria, in flagrant violation to the cease-fire, and in a clear inciting of the Syrian regime to derail the negotiations and return to military action. Iran was keen to undermine the negotiating opportunities, and to block the prospects for a political settlement of the crisis, saying the words of Ali Velayati, Supreme leader Ali Khamenei’s adviser that Tehran would not abandon Bashar al-Assad, and his departure is a “red line” for Tehran.
I do not know how Iran can imagine that the Islamic Summit can stand idly by in the face of the Iranian bullying, and I also do not know how Tehran understands things in reverse. Iran that claims, falsely, to be the voice of the oppressed in the Arab and Muslim world, and that it will continue its defense of these oppressed and vulnerable people, is the same that is killing Sunnis in Iraq, either by the hands of the Popular Mobilization Forces or by the hands of the “Daash” organization, which is a product of the Revolutionary Guards laboratories, as well as what its followers among the Houthi group commit against innocent unarmed Yemenis, whose lives have been transformed into hell by the Houthi and the militias of Ali Abdullah Saleh, pursuant to the dictates of the mullahs, their will and expansionist desire.
Those who claim that the countries of the Arab coalition, led by Saudi Arabia, are the ones that brought Yemen to this situation chicane themselves and falsify facts. Saudi Arabia and its allies are not the ones that publicly claimed time and time again the imminent accession of Sanaa to become the fourth Arab capital in the Iranian Empire. The alliance has only taken action to save and recover ancient capitals from the hands of the obnoxious sectarian Iranian project, which was reflected in a crude and unacceptable way in President Hassan Rouhani’s remarks made in late March, where he said verbatim “Iran will interfere in any place where there are shrines of the Shia exposed to threats from terrorists,” Iranian interventions that are carried out under the guise of fighting terrorism are sectarian interventions par excellence; they are not aimed at protecting the Muslim peoples, and are not concerned with States, their sovereignty and the interests of their people.
The way to achieve regional security and stability starts with a genuine Iranian conviction not to interfere in the internal affairs of States, respect for the sovereignty of neighboring States, and peaceful settlement of disputes, which are not new demands nor an emergency, but fall within the principles of legality and international laws that frame international relations since the United Nations was founded.
If some look at the Islamic summit only from the angle of condemning Iran, I think that the summit came up with a more important result, as the condemnation of Iran is an intuitive and expected issue in light of its behaviors and practices rejected by Arabs and Muslims. This result lies in setting the record straight with regard to the strategic challenges and threats facing the Islamic world, pointing to them explicitly and very clearly, as the talking about Iran was revealing and warning of one of the most serious challenges and threats to the security and stability of the Arab and Islamic countries.
The Istanbul summit concluded with its clear statement, which I consider as a slap in the face of Iranian policies, and find it a valuable opportunity and a bell of honest warning to Iran to re-review its positions and policies to perhaps wake up from its error and become aware of the reality of what is going on around it, if Tehran really seeks reunification and good neighborliness. Otherwise, it would have chosen its own way of isolation from and collision with its Islamic environment, which would prove the falsity of its revolutionary slogans, and confirm that the ideology is nothing but a cover for a Persian expansive project that conjures up historical colonial eras in their worst rejected forms.
