Elahe Koolai is a professor of international affairs at Tehran University. In an exclusive ‎interview with Rooz, she spoke about her views on Iran’s relations with the Arab states at ‎a time when this country is under increasing pressure from the UN Security Council and ‎the US. Koolai believes that the Arab states that participated at the recent Gulf ‎Cooperation Council meeting in Doha and at the recent Caspian Sea conference in Iran, ‎are pursuing their interests and taking advantage of the pressure that exists on Iran to ‎maximize their benefits. Even the open door policy pursued by the officials of the Islamic ‎Republic at the two meetings did not help advance common interests between Iran and ‎the Arab participants. Here are the excerpts.
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Rooz (R): Are the relations between Iran and the Arab states subject to Iran’s moderation ‎or their strategic alliance with the US?‎

Elahe Koolayi (EK): The Arab littoral states of the Persian Gulf, which are completely ‎under the influence of the United States, created the Gulf Cooperation Council after the ‎‎1979 revolution in Iran that brought the clerics to power and they decided not to use the ‎well accepted name of this waterway, i.e. the Persian Gulf for their new grouping, ‎choosing instead to call it the Gulf Cooperation Council. At times these countries have ‎strived to pursue their own national interests with Iran. Because of the influence that the ‎US has in these countries, the formation of their foreign policy and relations with Iran are ‎reflective of US positions on the Islamic Republic, and under the influence of events ‎dominating US foreign policy towards Iran.‎

The fact that the Gulf Cooperation Council member stresses on the fake claims of the ‎United Arab Emirates over the Iranian islands in the Persian Gulf and repeatedly raises ‎their occupation status, is a demonstration of the opportunism that these states exercise at ‎a time when the US is exerting greater pressure on Iran. This is an effort to get more ‎benefits and concessions out of existing circumstances contrary to the history and ‎geography of the region.‎

R: Have relations between Iran and these states been always like this since the 1979 ‎revolution?‎

EK: During the reform years (Eight-year Presidency of Mohammad Khatami that ended ‎in 2005) the relations improved and expanded considerably leading to the signing of a ‎number of political and economic cooperation agreements between them, particularly ‎Saudi Arabia. That was unprecedented since the revolution. Khatami’s confidence ‎building policy for the region deprived those states of their opportunism, while the ‎Islamic Republic made considerable gains, which were unprecedented and continue to be ‎so.‎

After the reform period and a change in Iran’s foreign policy which is based on a ‎confrontational approach towards the US, and after the issues that came up in US foreign ‎policy – vis-à-vis the Europeans – it appears that the Persian Gulf states too have returned ‎to their former policies towards Iran. This means that the conditions for public relations ‎work for the US against the Islamic Republic have improved for the US former and are ‎unfavorable for Iran. So the Americans have acquired the opportunity to conclude large ‎contracts with the Arab states by exaggerating the threat of the Islamic Republic.‎

The US government has taken advantage in the region because of the deteriorating ‎relations between the Islamic Republic and many countries of the world. Military ‎agreements are only one such example.‎

R: What is the strategy of the Persian Gulf Arab states on which UAE’s claims to the ‎three Iranian Persian Gulf islands and other unfriendly gestures of the Arabs in the ‎Persian Gulf are based on?‎

EK: It appears that when the political environment is ripe, strategic interests and historic-‎cultural differences that exist among the countries of the region come to the surface. The ‎Persian Gulf countries who in their short life have witnessed the dominating influence of ‎Iran strive to improve their situation and conditions by using the international pressure ‎that exists over Iran. These countries pursue their own interests by manipulating the ‎confrontation between Iran and the US.‎

Furthermore, during the last decades these countries have greatly benefited from events ‎inside Iran, its confrontations with the international community, and US efforts to isolate ‎Iran. Dubai is a good example in point. This emirate has transformed itself into a huge ‎investment, trading and financial center. It is a reinvestment center for Iran as well. In ‎other words, Iran’s geopolitical potential has turned into unique opportunities for some of ‎the regional states.‎

R: How can this misuse be stopped?‎

EK: By expanding relations with the world community and these states it is possible to ‎limit US presence in the region and the provision of mutual interests of all countries.‎

R: During the last two years, President Ahmadinejad has taken a confrontational posture ‎towards the West, while at the same time has attempted to improve the relations between ‎Iran and the Arab states, particularly those in the Persian Gulf region to the point where ‎he even recently announced that Iran was ready to provide these countries with its nuclear ‎know-how. Has this new moderation improved Iran’s relations with them?‎

EK: I believe that any such moderation on the part of Iran, under the conditions when ‎there is great international pressure on the Islamic Republic, particularly through the ‎United Nations Security Council and the US and Europe, only benefits the regional Arab ‎states and equips them with getting more out of Iran. The experience of the foreign policy ‎during the reform years is with us and it clearly shows that as our relations with the world ‎improve, the opportunity for some regional states to take advantage of us diminishes. The ‎opposite is true as well, meaning that as international pressure on Iran increases, regional ‎countries become more aggressive towards Iran.‎