CNN Sees Saudi Success In Disunited Gulf Summits That Made No New Statements

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Last week Saudi Arabia hosted three international summits in Mecca. The first was an emergency meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) which includes six Arab countries of the Persian Gulf. It was followed by an Arab League meeting of its 22 countries minus Syria which is currently suspended. The third summit was of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) which has 57 member states.

The Saudis had hoped that they would be able to use those summits to demonstrate a united position against Iran. Saudi Arabia had accused Iran of ordering the recent drone attacks from Yemen on its trans-Saudi pipeline. The U.S. accused Iran of being behind the recent attacks on tankers near the UAE.

The Saudi King opened the first summit with an attack on Iran:

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman told an emergency Gulf Arab meeting on Thursday that Iran’s development of nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities threatened regional and global security.He said Tehran’s actions threatened international maritime trade and global oil supplies in a “glaring violation of UN treaties,” following attacks this month on oil tankers off the United Arab Emirates and on oil pumping stations in the Kingdom.

If one is to believe CNN's Nic Robertson, the Saudis succeeded in uniting all countries behind their position:

King Salman of Saudi Arabia has pulled off in Mecca what many had thought unlikely -- getting 20 or so disparate Arab nations to unite in a common position against Iran.And while this achievement came without bellicose threats or new red lines, it is an important milepost on a road that may yet lead to regional conflict. In middle-of-night, back-to-back summits at Islam's holiest of sites, the aging but still-attentive Saudi monarch got a double endorsement of his claims that Iran is destabilizing the Middle East and a backing of his call for "the international community to shoulder its responsibility.
The six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council and 21 Arab League nations present called for Iran to stop "interfering in the internal affairs" of its neighbors and denounced Tehran's "threat to maritime security" in the Persian Gulf. 
...
What we saw in Mecca was a mark being set, that the status quo with Iran will no longer be tolerated by Saudi and its allies. What happens next is in Iran's court. Talks are an option, but terrorism, insofar as it is perceived as such by Tehran's neighbors, is not.

The Saudis must have bought Nic Robertson some of their rose-colored glasses. In fact each of the three summits failed to take a new position towards Iran. The GCC summit communique does not blame Iran for the recent attacks and uses only general language to note its concern:

The Council emphasized the positions of the Supreme Council and its firm decisions on relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran, stressing the need for Iran to abide by principles based on the Charter of the United Nations and international law, the principles of good neighborliness, respect for the sovereignty of states, non-interference in internal affairs and the non-use of force.The Council also called on Iran to stop supporting, funding and arming militias and terrorist organizations, and refrain from feeding sectarian conflicts, calling on the Iranian regime to exercise wisdom, staying away from hostilities and destabilizing security and stability.

While Anderson claims that the Iran's behavior "will no longer be tolerated by Saudi and its allies", the GCC statement does not make any such threat at all. The GCC members know that they can not do anything against Iran as their countries are vulnerable to retaliation. They thus call on others to do something about their problems:

The resolution called on the international community to shoulder its responsibilities to maintain international peace and security and to take firm action against the Iranian regime and more effective and serious steps to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear capabilities and to impose stricter restrictions on Iran’s ballistic missile program.

In total the general language of the current GCC summit statement is not significantly different from the one used in previous GCC summitcommuniques:

They also urged Tehran to revise its policies in the region by means of honoring relevant international conventions and treaties, and stop harboring terrorist groups, including Hezbollah, on its soil.

The Arab League Mecca summit communique is somewhat similar to one the GCC issued. But its language is also no different than the one used in previous Arab League statements. It condemns Iran for supporting the Houthis and for supporting Syria but issues no threat whatsoever. Iraq did not sign off on the Arab League communique.

The OIC communique of the third Mecca summit does not mention Iran at all. It focuses on Palestine and rejects the ever delayed U.S. 'deal of the century' that is supposed to buy off Palestinian rights for some meager economic promises.

Of the six GCC countries Qatar and Oman have friendly relations with Iran. Saudi Arabia and the UAE are still hostile to Qatar and both countries fail in their war on Yemen. The Arab League is as dysfunctional as ever. Its north-African member states are busy with interior trouble and the Arab League country with the most effective military, Syria, is still suspended. 

The OIC condemned the Kushner plan which Saudi Arabia's clown prince Muhammad bin Salman and the UAE support. Turkey's president did not take part in the OIC summit because of the Saudi hostility to the Muslim Brotherhood. Iran's president was not invited. Qatar's Prime Minister al-Thani was only allowed to join the summits because the U.S. had pressed for it.

Said differently - the two summits Anderson is so exited about were nothingburgers. Their statements were similar to the once made before and the GCC and the Arab League still lack the capacity to act together on any serious issue. That they call on outsiders to tackle Iran says all one needs to know. The OIC summit was outright hostile to the U.S. and Saudi plans for the destruction of Palestine.

As long as U.S. media deliver such bad 'analysis' of foreign state positions, the policies derived from it will continue to be unrealistic.

Posted by b on June 2, 2019 at 07:21 AM | Permalink

https://www.moonofalabama.org/2019/06/cnn-sees-saudi-success-in-disunited-gulf-summits-that-made-no-new-statements.html