Monday, 7 September 2015

Hollow claims of change in Iran’s behavior


Iran’s promises for change in behavior following the nuclear deal have remained nothing but words despite much enthusiasm shown by the West to assure (Persian) Gulf countries over the July 14th accord.

Kuwait summoned Iran’s charge d'affaires on 26 August 2015 to protest Tehran’s attempts to drill oil from a Gulf field that has been a subject of dispute between the two countries for years. Despite promises made by Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif in his recent visits to Kuwait, Qatar and Iraq where he said neighboring countries are of priority for Iran, this is not the first time that Tehran attempts to cause tension with its neighbors.
Over a month after the nuclear agreement signed between the West and Iran, Tehran has attempted to shows it is a volunteer for good relations with neighboring countries in the region. However, despite the fact that Zarif’s first stop ten days after the nuclear pact in a regional trip included Qatar, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and their neighbor Kuwait, events on the ground undermined any seriousness from Tehran in improving relations with its Gulf neighbors. In fact they proves that Iran’s policies of meddling in these countries, and financial and military support for militants on their soil have not changed at all. Following this visit, Tehran has once again attempted to play with the security and stability of its Gulf neighbors.
This month Kuwaiti authorities busted a Lebanese Hezbollah-affiliated cell and discovered a large cache of arms, ammunition and explosives belonging to this network. Media outlets reported these weapons were smuggled by Iran to Kuwait from the sea.
The most recent intervention by Iran showed itself as Tehran began allowing investors to (discover) natural gas and expand its oil field around Kuwait, which has been a matter of dispute between the two countries for some time now.
This led to Kuwait summoning Iran’s charge d'affaires and place a strong message of protest from its Foreign Ministry.
The question now is why is Iran always seeking tension, war and terrorist attacks vis-à-vis other countries? The ink on the nuclear pact has yet to be dried and no measures are implemented that Iran has already launched new terrorist and meddling actions in Bahrain and Kuwait. Of course, these measures are added to Tehran’s already deadly meddling in Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iraq. If one lacks any knowledge about the Iranian regime’s true nature they would be puzzled and left with many questions about the logic behind these measures. However, if we take a precise look at this regime’s 37 year history, we can come to understand quite well that the foundation and very structure of the mullahs’ rule in Tehran is based on exporting fundamentalism, war, hatred, executions and terrorism. Rest assured that if Tehran stops these measures for just one day, that day will be the end of this regime. In my last piece I wrote that Iran’s meddling in regional countries is far more dangerous than its nuclear ambitions. I will never get tired of writing this sentence because I believe US President Barack Obama and other leaders of the P5+1 have adopted a gravely mistaken policy to rein in the regime in Tehran. They actually believe that by enforcing this setback in the recent nuclear agreement Iran will not be able to continue its meddling in other countries and will even go on to correct its behavior. This is nothing but a mirage and the events of this past month have proven this quite well.

However, Iran’s nuclear ambitions will be automatically defused if its meddling in regional countries are stopped. 

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