DOHA: The much-trumpeted emergency summits hosted by Saudi Arabia last week to ‘rein in Iran’ were a failure and Qatar’s participation in the summits, which received international attention, is seen as a victory of its foreign policy that calls for a moderate and balanced approach on Gulf issues, according to experts.
The summits of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) were hastily convened by Saudi Arabia after a spike in tensions with Iran caused by the attacks on four oil tankers off the port of Fujairah and a Saudi oil pipeline.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) had hoped to rally neighbouring and Arab countries behind them on Iran but the outcome was disappointing to say the least. Despite the desperation of the Saudi-UAE combine to isolate Iran, which was reflected in the ‘emergency’ nature of the talks, the participating Arab countries failed to buy the Saudi-UAE script and stuck to their individual policies.
The outcome of the summits has now proved two points: first, despite their best efforts, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have nothing new on their plate in terms of support from their Arab brethren, leaving them to fend for themselves, and second, both countries are stuck in a quagmire of their own making on Iran, with dangerous consequences.
The sabotage of ships off Fujairah and drone attacks by Yemen’s Houthis on Saudi Arabia have brought a new dimension to the current standoff which they are scared of and unable to handle.
“Three attacks against oil installations and a Saudi pipeline have brutally but effectively exposed Abu Dhabi’s vulnerability to attack anywhere in the Gulf, and well south of the Strait of Hormuz, in the event of a full-blown third Gulf War,” wrote David Hearst in the Middle East Eye (MEE). “Abu Dhabi is panicking,” he added.
At the same time, the statement of Qatar’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister H E Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani that Qatar had reservations about the communique issued after the GCC summit shows Doha remains steadfast in its policy on Iran and will not succumb to outside pressure.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, the foreign minister also bluntly said that the summits “adopted Washington’s policy towards Iran and not one that takes the neighbourhood into consideration.” He also attacked the double standards of some Gulf countries in calling for Gulf unity, while continuing with the blockade on Qatar.
The failure of the three emergency summits also shows the narrowing of options for Riyadh and Abu Dhabi on Iran. They are left with the only option of following US President Donald Trump’s policy, which is tailored to protect the interests of Israel, not that of the Gulf region.
At the summits, the Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz ratcheted up the rhetoric against Tehran, calling its actions criminal, and called for serious efforts to preserve the security of the region. But his desperate appeal failed to find any takers.
The Arab summit also condemned the “Iranian interference” in the region but Iraq, whose support is considered crucial in any effort in containing Iran, objected to the statement, dealing a setback to the Saudi efforts to seek unity. The Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi had visited Doha before the summit and both countries are against pushing the region into a conflagration.
Hearst wrote in the MEE that in addition to attacks on oil tankers off Fujairah, there was an unannounced attack on an Emirati oil well in the Gulf by Houthis. The attack is said to have sent shivers through Abu Dhabi. The message from attackers was very clear: “Two can play at the game of escalation, and your tiny city state will be on the front line of the chaos you yourself have created.”
Having exhausted their option of calling an emergency summit, it is to be seen how the UAE and Saudi Arabia will react in the event of further escalation in tension.