<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>Iranian hostility sparks fears in Gulf
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>Current territorial disputes with Iran seen as prelude to bigger problems </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Jonathan Eyal STRAITS TIMES EUROPE BUREAU
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->DOHA (QATAR): - Foreign ministers from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) - the grouping of all the sheikhdoms of the Arabian peninsula - met in an emergency session on Sunday to discuss what they regard as Iran's increased hostility.
While the official communique at the end of the summit carefully avoided any confrontation, officials in the Gulf fear that the current tensions with Iran are only a prelude to much bigger disputes in the months to come.
<TABLE width=200 align=left valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD class=padr8><!-- Vodcast --><!-- Background Story --><STYLE type=text/css> #related .quote {background-color:#E7F7FF; padding:8px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;} #related .quote .headline {font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:10px;font-weight:bold; border-bottom:3px double #007BFF; color:#036; text-transform:uppercase; padding-bottom:5px;} #related .quote .text {font-size:11px;color:#036;padding:5px 0px;} </STYLE>Tests start on Iran's first nuke plant
IRAN'S first nuclear power plant will undergo a critical series of tests starting tomorrow before full-scale operation begins later this year, Iranian state radio reported.
The plant is a symbol of Iran's controversial nuclear programme. Iranian leaders insist the country's nuclear ambitions are peaceful, but the United States, Israel and some European nations have charged that Iran is trying to produce nuclear weapons.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Iran has periodically laid claims to large swathes of the Gulf's waters and territory, on the basis of complicated historic arguments dating back a century.
Iranian troops have already seized a few islands in the strategic Strait of Hormuz waterway, in a move that Mr Abdulrahman Al-Attiyah, the GCC's secretary-general, recently condemned as being similar to Israel's occupation of Palestinian lands.
But over the last few years, the Iranians have preferred to emphasise regional cooperation. They concluded a deal with Qatar over the development of a natural gas field that straddles their territorial waters.
Iranian trading houses have also invested heavily in other Gulf sheikhdoms, and more recently, Iran promised to supply gas to Bahrain, one of the few Gulf states not rich in energy resources.
GCC countries assumed that good relations would continue, largely because the Iranians, now faced with international sanctions, need all the friends and economic partners they can get.
But to everyone's astonishment, Iran has now revived territorial demands on its neighbours.
In a speech last week marking the anniversary of Iran's Islamic revolution, prominent conservative leader Ali Akber Nateq Nouri claimed that Bahrain was an Iranian 'province' that was 'taken away' from its supposed 'mother country'.
Bahrain reacted with predictable outrage. A spokesman for Bahraini King Hamad Bin-Isa Al Khalifah branded the Iranian statement as 'sheer ignorance, recklessness and disrespect for other countries' sovereignty and independence'.
Iran's merchant ships were ordered
to leave Bahrain's territorial waters and negotiations on a gas deal were broken off.
The dispute touched a raw nerve in Bahrain because, although the Bahraini monarchy is Sunni, a majority of the country's population are followers of the Shi'ite strand of Islam, which is also predominant in Iran. So any Iranian claim carries a particular ominous connotation.
The Bahraini authorities were reassured by the fact that the Al-Wifaq Bloc, their country's biggest Shi'ite political movement, quickly repudiated the Iranian claim. Nevertheless, Bahrain took no chances: It demanded and got the official support of all its Arab allies.
Faced with the uproar, Iran scrambled to regain the initiative.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi denied last Thursday that his country has any territorial aspirations in the region.
'Our position on Bahrain is clear: We have repeatedly said that we respect the sovereignty and independence of all neighbouring countries,' he said.
Yet few diplomats in the Gulf take such denials at face value. An official in the GCC secretariat told The Straits Times on condition of anonymity that Iran often makes 'outrageous demands, backtracks, and then repeats them'.
To make matters worse, just as the dispute with Bahrain unfolded, Iranian navy chief Habibollah Sayyari announced that his ships are now ready to sail beyond the waters of the Gulf, and right into the Indian Ocean. It was a hint that Iran's military feels confident.
Western analysts believe that these hostile Iranian moves are connected to the possible start of direct negotiations between Iran and the United States over Teheran's alleged nuclear programme.
The Iranians still have not made up their mind whether to attend such talks: Officials in Teheran have blown hot and cold on the US proposition for weeks.
But Iran is determined that, if it engages in talks, these will be with the US alone, rather than with America's allies in the Gulf. So threatening the Gulf states is Iran's way of warning its neighbours to keep out of any future US initiatives.
The strategic predicament of the Gulf states is acute. Small and highly vulnerable, they fervently hope to avoid being caught in the middle of a military showdown between the US and Iran.
But they also fear that if the US and Iran reach a diplomatic accommodation, this will entail an American acceptance of Iran's pre-eminent role in the Gulf, leaving the sheikhdoms to the tender mercies of the Islamic republic.
US officials in the Gulf dismiss such fears as exaggerated. They point to America's deep strategic involvement, and to Washington's determination to stand by its Arab allies.
Nevertheless, in a part of the world where perceptions often determine realities, the manner in which the Americans engage Iran would be just as important as the substance of any future talks.
And, at least for the moment, the most urgent task for the US is to reassure its small Gulf allies, who increasingly fear that Iran may end up both nuclear-armed and in control of their region. [email protected]
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>Current territorial disputes with Iran seen as prelude to bigger problems </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Jonathan Eyal STRAITS TIMES EUROPE BUREAU
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->DOHA (QATAR): - Foreign ministers from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) - the grouping of all the sheikhdoms of the Arabian peninsula - met in an emergency session on Sunday to discuss what they regard as Iran's increased hostility.
While the official communique at the end of the summit carefully avoided any confrontation, officials in the Gulf fear that the current tensions with Iran are only a prelude to much bigger disputes in the months to come.
<TABLE width=200 align=left valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD class=padr8><!-- Vodcast --><!-- Background Story --><STYLE type=text/css> #related .quote {background-color:#E7F7FF; padding:8px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;} #related .quote .headline {font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:10px;font-weight:bold; border-bottom:3px double #007BFF; color:#036; text-transform:uppercase; padding-bottom:5px;} #related .quote .text {font-size:11px;color:#036;padding:5px 0px;} </STYLE>Tests start on Iran's first nuke plant
IRAN'S first nuclear power plant will undergo a critical series of tests starting tomorrow before full-scale operation begins later this year, Iranian state radio reported.
The plant is a symbol of Iran's controversial nuclear programme. Iranian leaders insist the country's nuclear ambitions are peaceful, but the United States, Israel and some European nations have charged that Iran is trying to produce nuclear weapons.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Iran has periodically laid claims to large swathes of the Gulf's waters and territory, on the basis of complicated historic arguments dating back a century.
Iranian troops have already seized a few islands in the strategic Strait of Hormuz waterway, in a move that Mr Abdulrahman Al-Attiyah, the GCC's secretary-general, recently condemned as being similar to Israel's occupation of Palestinian lands.
But over the last few years, the Iranians have preferred to emphasise regional cooperation. They concluded a deal with Qatar over the development of a natural gas field that straddles their territorial waters.
Iranian trading houses have also invested heavily in other Gulf sheikhdoms, and more recently, Iran promised to supply gas to Bahrain, one of the few Gulf states not rich in energy resources.
GCC countries assumed that good relations would continue, largely because the Iranians, now faced with international sanctions, need all the friends and economic partners they can get.
But to everyone's astonishment, Iran has now revived territorial demands on its neighbours.
In a speech last week marking the anniversary of Iran's Islamic revolution, prominent conservative leader Ali Akber Nateq Nouri claimed that Bahrain was an Iranian 'province' that was 'taken away' from its supposed 'mother country'.
Bahrain reacted with predictable outrage. A spokesman for Bahraini King Hamad Bin-Isa Al Khalifah branded the Iranian statement as 'sheer ignorance, recklessness and disrespect for other countries' sovereignty and independence'.
Iran's merchant ships were ordered
to leave Bahrain's territorial waters and negotiations on a gas deal were broken off.
The dispute touched a raw nerve in Bahrain because, although the Bahraini monarchy is Sunni, a majority of the country's population are followers of the Shi'ite strand of Islam, which is also predominant in Iran. So any Iranian claim carries a particular ominous connotation.
The Bahraini authorities were reassured by the fact that the Al-Wifaq Bloc, their country's biggest Shi'ite political movement, quickly repudiated the Iranian claim. Nevertheless, Bahrain took no chances: It demanded and got the official support of all its Arab allies.
Faced with the uproar, Iran scrambled to regain the initiative.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi denied last Thursday that his country has any territorial aspirations in the region.
'Our position on Bahrain is clear: We have repeatedly said that we respect the sovereignty and independence of all neighbouring countries,' he said.
Yet few diplomats in the Gulf take such denials at face value. An official in the GCC secretariat told The Straits Times on condition of anonymity that Iran often makes 'outrageous demands, backtracks, and then repeats them'.
To make matters worse, just as the dispute with Bahrain unfolded, Iranian navy chief Habibollah Sayyari announced that his ships are now ready to sail beyond the waters of the Gulf, and right into the Indian Ocean. It was a hint that Iran's military feels confident.
Western analysts believe that these hostile Iranian moves are connected to the possible start of direct negotiations between Iran and the United States over Teheran's alleged nuclear programme.
The Iranians still have not made up their mind whether to attend such talks: Officials in Teheran have blown hot and cold on the US proposition for weeks.
But Iran is determined that, if it engages in talks, these will be with the US alone, rather than with America's allies in the Gulf. So threatening the Gulf states is Iran's way of warning its neighbours to keep out of any future US initiatives.
The strategic predicament of the Gulf states is acute. Small and highly vulnerable, they fervently hope to avoid being caught in the middle of a military showdown between the US and Iran.
But they also fear that if the US and Iran reach a diplomatic accommodation, this will entail an American acceptance of Iran's pre-eminent role in the Gulf, leaving the sheikhdoms to the tender mercies of the Islamic republic.
US officials in the Gulf dismiss such fears as exaggerated. They point to America's deep strategic involvement, and to Washington's determination to stand by its Arab allies.
Nevertheless, in a part of the world where perceptions often determine realities, the manner in which the Americans engage Iran would be just as important as the substance of any future talks.
And, at least for the moment, the most urgent task for the US is to reassure its small Gulf allies, who increasingly fear that Iran may end up both nuclear-armed and in control of their region. [email protected]
