Iran ‘fuelling the fires’ of conflict
AS VOTERS in Iran danced in the streets, celebrating the reelection of a moderate as president, President Donald Trump stood in front of a gathering of leaders from across the Muslim world and called on them to isolate a nation he said had “fuelled the fires of sectarian conflict and terror”. That nation was Iran. In using the headline address of his first foreign trip as president to declare his commitment to Sunni Arab nations, Trump signalled a return to an American policy built on alliances with Arab autocrats, regardless of their human rights records or policies that sometimes undermine US interests.
At the same time, he rejected the path taken by his predecessor, Barack Obama. Obama engaged with Iran to reach a breakthrough nuclear accord, which Trump’s administration has acknowledged Iran is following.
Trump has presented the shift as a reinvestment in historical alliances with friendly nations in order to fight extremism and terrorism. But the juxtaposition of the election in Iran and the gathering in Saudi Arabia seemed to highlight a reality of the Middle East that presidents have long wrestled with: How to choose partners and seek American interests in a region torn by sectarian splits and competing agendas.
Iran and its proxies have effectively found themselves on the side of the United States in fighting Islamic State in Iraq, while in Syria, they have been adversaries in their support for the rule of President Bashar As- sad. Saudi Arabia has at times undermined US efforts to stabilise Afghanistan.
“We are picking one side in this geopolitical struggle, and there is very little room for grey,” said Frederic Wehrey, a senior fellow in the Middle East Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “Sectarianism is a byproduct of this geopolitical rivalry, and we are inadvertently picking one side in this sectarian struggle.”
The two scenes – dancing in the streets in Tehran and Sunni leaders gathered in an opulent hall in Riyadh – also pointed to a complicating reality in the Middle East: There is often a disconnect between the leaders and their people.
In his remarks, Trump signalled his intention to end engagement with Iran, suggesting that it does not encourage change from inside the country.
But in Iran, many were pushing for change. Emboldened by the election results, crowds of Iranians in the capital, Tehran, demanded what they hope President Hassan Rouhani’s second term will bring: the release of opposition figures, more freedom of thought and fewer restrictions on daily life.
Rouhani’s supporters also expect his victory, with 57 percent of the vote, to bolster his outreach efforts to the West and the pursuit of foreign investment to lift Iran’s ailing economy.
For those who voted for Rouhani, there was a feeling of tremendous relief that his challenger, the hard-line cleric Ebrahim Raisi, who criticised the nuclear deal with the United States and other Western powers, had lost.
For decades, Saudi Arabia and Iran have competed for religious leadership and political influence across the Muslim world and beyond.
Iran accuses Saudi Arabia of spreading an intolerant creed that fuels terrorism and threatens minorities. Saudi Arabia says Iran works through nonstate actors to weaken Arab nations.
In his speech on Sunday, Trump, a guest of the Saudi monarch, spoke of a stronger alliance with mostly Sunni Muslim nations to fight terrorism and extremist ideology and to push back against Iran.
“From Lebanon to Iraq to Yemen, Iran funds arms and trains terrorists, militias and other extremist groups that spread destruction and chaos across the region,” Trump said. “It is a government that speaks openly of mass murder, vowing the destruction of Israel, death to America, and ruin for many leaders and nations in this very room.”
That pointed to a departure from the policies of Obama, who pushed Persian Gulf countries like Saudi Arabia to move towards greater self-sufficiency in defence while pressing for the agreement to limit Iran’s nuclear programme.
The Arab nations hate Iran for using nonstate actors in Arab countries. Iran was fundamental in the creation of Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group and political party that now has Lebanon’s strongest military force. More recently, Iran has sent military aid to help Assad fight rebels seeking his ouster, while also supporting militias in Iraq, Bahrain and Yemen.
But there is a gap between Iran’s older, ruling clerics and the ambitions of its people, as was made clear when Iranians came out in force to dance and protest in the streets this weekend, breaking Islamic rules and political taboos, in celebration of Rouhani’s re-election.
The election outcome was widely seen as evidence that Iran’s society has changed radically. Influenced by satellite television, cheaper international travel, the internet, waves of migration to big cities and access to higher education, most of Iranian society now adheres to middle-class values.
Some used the election’s success to criticise Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia.
“Iran – fresh from real elections – attacked by @POTUS in that bastion of democracy & moderation,” Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, wrote on Twitter, speaking of Saudi Arabia.