Closeness with Iran Is Obama’s New Challenge

It seems that there will be a certain closeness between the United States and Iran over the days to come as a result of the current instability in Iraq and the formidable advancement made by ISIL forces in multiple Iraqi cities. The American approach consists of abstaining from direct intervention in the region’s conflicts. It aims to avoid repeating the mistakes that Obama’s predecessor George Bush Jr. made through his direct intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan, which resulted in economic and political losses as well as the deaths of thousands of American soldiers during the first decade of the new century.

Nevertheless, Obama’s strategy has not been by any means limited to relying on allies. He also depended on what we might call “purchasing adversaries.” Obama’s administration, since it first arrived at the White House in 2009, has sought to turn the adversaries of the past into new allies, through a large trade-off that many may have seen as a challenge, at the expense of some of the regimes in power in the region.

This strategy, to a large extent, constituted a radical change in American policy with respect to Islamist movements, which were historically considered enemies of one past American administration after another. President Obama endeavored to reconcile with these movements in a bargain that played out during the Arab Spring uprisings. The United States announced its support of Islamists’ rise to power in numerous countries in the region, so long as they worked in the interest of American goals. This also gave those goals a religious tone and thus popular approval. Here we see that the new American approach was aimed essentially at recruiting new allies through which it could achieve what its historical allies had failed to achieve without direct American intervention, in addition to improving the United States’ image with the Muslim world after years of tension during the Bush Jr. era, through reconciliation with religious movements which were popular at the time. Furthermore, this approach might also eliminate the threat of an event similar to Sept. 11 by extremist groups in the region.

In reality, the latest developments in Iraq may drive the American administration to adopt the exact same approach with Iran this time, considering the rumors of American-Iranian coordination, the United States’ blessing of the presence of Iranian forces and America’s refusal to be sucked back into the conflict in Iraq.

The question then becomes what consideration the United States will offer in order to seal this deal, aimed at preserving its interests, especially since trusting Iran is seen as a great upset of the balance in the region in light of the Iranian-Gulf conflict. This means that Washington will further its political losses on a regional level and will lose new allies. There is also the nuclear threat, which has been a point of conflict between Iran and Western powers for more than a decade, meaning that it may lose even more at the international level. The bottom line then is that American influence is undermined in the region due to other powers that have managed to rival America’s role in the region stepping up.

It seems that the credibility of the United States with the people of the Middle East is on the line as a result of the new approach adopted by Obama during the Arab Spring uprisings. The public has become utterly convinced that the concepts of freedom and democracy, embraced by the United States, are at their core aimed at serving American interests at the expense of the people. Indeed, the matter may go on to have an impact on the regional influence enjoyed by the United States in light of the new challenge that it will face at the expense of its historical allies.