Middle Eastern Fear of Iran

America’s views on the Middle East are heavily influenced by Israel. Internal Washington diplomatic correspondence released by WikiLeaks shows a marked Israeli influence on America’s Middle East policies. The focus of the leaked documents is on the Iranian nuclear program and the remarks of concerned Arab royal families, all of them close allies of the United States. Sources cited for the information are always either Israel’s Mossad intelligence service or others created and/or led by Mossad.

People in Riyadh are deeply troubled. The Saudi ambassador to the United States, Adel Jubair, is quoted as saying his king has made repeated warnings to the U.S. to stop Iran’s nuclear program. At a meeting with General David Petraeus in 2008, records show the king asked Washington to “cut the head off the snake.” King Hamid bin Isa al-Khalifa of Bahrain is quoted as saying the United States should do “everything necessary” to stop Iran. Zeid Rifai, advisor to Jordan King Abdullah was even more direct: The United States should either “bomb Iran, or live with an Iranian bomb.”

Arab states that caution the United States to exercise restraint with Iran and favor dialog with Tehran are branded as “threatening.” That applies especially to Syria and Qatar. Damascus has had a strategic partnership for years with Tehran; the Amir of Qatar, Sheik Hamad bin Khalife al-Thani, is regarded as a mediator in regional conflicts whether they are in Lebanon, Yemen or the Sudan. Sheik Hamad pleads for dialog rather than confrontation with Iran. A U.S. Homeland Security protocol quotes Israeli Mossad Chief Meir Dagan as saying the amir of Qatar is “a real problem” who “angers everyone.” Dagan asked his U.S. counterparts to dismantle their bases in Qatar.

Qatar’s role as mediator is also criticized by Saudi Arabia and Egypt, and has caused internal difficulties within the Arab League. Correspondence suggests that besides Israel, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the Gulf States and Egypt should also consider Iran as an acute danger to them. Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan are regarded as American representatives in the Middle East, the latter two having already signed peace treaties with Israel. The Saudi royal house is also constantly trying to exercise hegemony in the region.

Historically, Iran has been a major power in the Gulf region for centuries. It had earlier been in competition with the Ottoman Empire and, more recently, with Saudi Arabia, which has enjoyed close ties with the Western empires of Great Britain and the United States ever since the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Arabs have traditionally favored dialog over confrontation, but this tendency has faltered recently because of Western influence and Israel’s confrontational policies.

Up until 2003, Israel had considered Iraq, with its supposed weapons of mass destruction, as the chief regional threat. Since Iraq’s collapse into chaos, Israel has designated Iran and its nuclear ambitions as “the greatest danger to mankind” and has succeeded in convincing almost the entire Western world to go along with that assessment. But while Iran is already a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the IAEA supplemental protocols, Israel continues to keep its nuclear program and its nuclear arsenal stubbornly secret and exempt from any international controls.