Choosing up sides!
posted by
Clyde
6:55 AM
Iran courting Arab countries to blunt U.S. hostility
Iran is intensifying its efforts win over its Arab neighbors with a campaign of high-level diplomatic visits, lucrative investment deals and a series of public statements that call for Muslim unity in the face of U.S. and Israeli "aggression" in the Middle East .
The goal, experts say, is to reassure Sunni Muslim leaders that they have nothing to fear from their Shiite Muslim neighbor's ascension as a regional power- and to make sure no Arab state backs a U.S. strike on Iranian nuclear facilities.
So far, the campaign has achieved mixed results: While Arab rulers publicly support stronger Arab-Persian ties, they still harbor deep-seated fears about Iran's long-term ambitions. They also face strong U.S. pressure to keep Tehran isolated.
"If the U.S. struck Iran , the Arab world would take a position of 'positive neutrality'— they would observe, but they wouldn't join because the Arabs know Iran's reaction could harm them in their own countries," said Mohamed el Said Abdel Mo 'men, a professor of Iranian studies at Ain Shams University in Cairo . "They believe the Iranian threat, in its current size, is more manageable than it would be after a strike."
(Link)
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