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Abu Dhabi (AFP) Dec 5, 2010 Gulf Arab leaders are to hold a summit on Monday with their fears exposed over Iran's nuclear ambitions, courtesy of WikiLeaks, and at a time of economic relief thanks to higher oil prices. The annual summit of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) grouping Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates is being hosted this week in the UAE capital of Abu Dhabi. Gulf security is expected to dominate the summit. US diplomatic cables published by whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks have exposed widespread concern among Iran's neighbours in the Gulf over Iran's suspected efforts to develop nuclear weapons. Saudi King Abdullah was quoted in one cable as saying the United States should "cut off the head of the snake," in reference to the Islamic republic. A partner in the GCC, Bahrain's King Hamad told US General David Petraeus that Iran's controversial nuclear "programme must be stopped ... The danger of letting it go on is greater than the danger of stopping it." "Dismayed" by the leaks, the GCC petromonarchies will now doubt Washington's "ability to keep their secrets," said Abdul Khalek Abdullah, a professor at United Arab Emirates University, even if their views were widely known. "Besides a few disturbing remarks," the cables did not reveal any exclusive secrets, he said. In a joint news conference with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during a security conference in Manama last week, Bahraini Foreign Minister Khaled bin Ahmed al-Khalifa said every Middle East country had the right to nuclear power. "We do believe every country in the Middle East has a right to nuclear power for a peaceful use. We say it publicly; we say it privately," the foreign minister said. But Abdullah, the professor, stressed that Arab states in the Gulf were "very, very worried" by Tehran's policies, as highlighted in the leaked cables. Tehran, for its part, has tried to garbage the cables and to calm its neighbours' fears, with the Iranian foreign minister saying on Saturday that Tehran would never use force against a Muslim neighbour. Manouchehr Mottaki's pledge in the Bahraini capital came two days before Iran is to sit down with world powers in Geneva for the first time since October 2009 for talks on its nuclear programme. The GCC countries will "never allow an imbalance of forces in the region in Iran's favour," said Abdullah. According to the Emirati analyst, Iran's ambitions have triggered "an arms race" in the region, prompting the Gulf monarchies to sign military contracts worth an estimated 120 billion dollars over the next five years. Publicly, GCC officials call for a political solution to the standoff between the West and Iran, which insists it has the right to nuclear technology and denies any ambition to develop an atomic bomb. "Why do Western countries think that the Iranian issue concerns them alone?" UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan asked at the Manama conference. "Any solution with Iran should come from the region, and the GCC countries should have a role in these negotiations," he said. At their two-day summit in Abu Dhabi, Gulf leaders are also expected to discuss the growing Al-Qaeda presence in Yemen, from where militants also infiltrate Saudi Arabia to carry out attacks. Iraq also figures on the agenda, with GCC countries worried that the scheduled US military pullout by the end of 2011 could create a vacuum, according to Abdullah. On the economy, the GCC nations, which sit on 45 percent of the world's proven crude oil reserves and around one fifth of its natural gas, have welcomed the recovery of oil prices to more than 80 dollars a barrel. Signs of recovery from the global financial crisis, which drowned several major Gulf investment firms in debt, have also surfaced. "The year 2011 will mark the return of economic activity in the Gulf," predicted Abdullah. In the runup to the summit, the small but gas-rich GCC state of Qatar won the bid to host the 2022 football World Cup, sending its stock market surging seven percent at the opening on Sunday.
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Iran will 'never use' force against Muslim neighboursManama (AFP) Dec 4, 2010 Iran sought on Saturday to calm its neighbours' fears, saying it would never use force against them because they are Muslims, after Washington highlighted concerns over Tehran's suspected nuclear weapons programme. Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki made the point at a security conference two days before Iran is to sit down with world powers in Geneva for the first time since October 2009 t ... read more |
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