Iran’s threat against Gulf states ‘reflects dangerous behaviour’

The posting of a video by an Iranian media outlet close to the hardline Revolutionary Guard, threatening Gulf states with missile

attacks, reflects “dangerous and worrisome” behaviour, Arab analysts have said.

The video tweeted and later deleted by the semi-official Fars news agency comes days after the militant attack on a military parade in Iran. Analysts believe the intention is to divert attention from the impact of the US economic sanctions against Iran, and is meant for local public consumption.

“Iran is too weak to attack any Gulf state,” Ahmad Kamel Al Buhairi, a researcher on Iranian affairs at the Cairo-based Al Ahram Strategic Studies Centre said. “No one in Iran – from the Supreme Leader to the lowest ranking officer of the

Revolutionary Guard will dare to push the button to launch a missile against any neighbouring country,” Al Buhairi said. “Because this will be the day the Iranian regime signs its death sentence.”

“Publishing such threats ... shows the Iranian leadership’s behaviour, which is dangerous and worrisome,” Khattar Abu Diab from the Paris-based Council on Geopolitics and Perspectives told Gulf News.

For long, Iran has been resorting to threats as a way of life, said Riyad Qahwaji, CEO of Dubai-based Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis. The regime picked “a [semi]-official media to indulge in some sort of psychological warfare and give the Iranian street the impression it is about to take action,” said Qahwaji.