The Trump administration's bid to create a new security and political alliance with rich Arab countries is aimed at exploiting their wealth and expanding the unwanted US presence in the strategic region, a lawmaker said at the weekend.
"The main aim of such initiatives is to milk the Arab states in the Persian Gulf rather than counter a perceived threat from countries like Iran," Alaeddin Boroujerdi, a member of Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, told ICANA.
Citing US and Arab sources, Reuters reported on Friday that the Trump administration is quietly pushing ahead with a bid to form an "Arab NATO" with six Persian Gulf Arab states, Egypt and Jordan, in part to counter Iran's influence in the region.
The White House wants to see deeper cooperation between the countries on missile defense, military training, counter-terrorism and other issues such as strengthening regional economic and diplomatic ties, the sources said.
Regional Tensions
Boroujerdi said the proposal is also meant to aggravate the situation in the already volatile Middle East as the US customarily seeks to benefit from regional conflicts.
"Americans want to see heightened tensions in the region, but it should be noted that Iran is powerful enough and no country can afford to take an irrational action against it."
He added that such moves will help Washington sell more arms to its Arab allies and create more military bases in the region.
The latest initiative is unlikely to reach implementation phase because a similar coalition of Arab countries that launched a military intervention into war-ravaged Yemen in 2015 has been stuck in a "quagmire".
"Such plans will not produce the desired results."
Not Feasible
On the same subject, Asqar Zarei, a Middle East expert, says there is little chance that such a coalition could be glued together given the internal disputes between Arab states supposed to partake in the initiative.
"The (Arab) disagreements effectively prevent the formation of such an alliance," he told ISNA in an interview published Sunday.
Another issue that needs attention is that the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen has been a total failure and is in a "hopeless" situation, he noted.
"It is the US dream to create an Arab NATO so that regional Arab states will shoulder part of the cost of its campaign against resistance forces," he added, stressing that such an alliance would not make regional Arab states stronger or able to fend for themselves.
Not Feasible
Luciano Zaccara, a research assistant professor in Persian Gulf politics at Qatar University, says the US aims to "isolate Iran from the region and try and create an alliance that will counter any kind of influence that Iran can have in the broader Middle East region."
The creation of such a coalition is not "feasible" given the internal conflicts that the Persian Gulf states have, Zaccara told Sputnik in an interview published on Sunday.
Asked about the implications of the plan and whether it could worsen relations between Tehran and Washington, the expert said, "Of course, this is an escalation in the tone of discussions between Iran and the US."
Zaccara says it is not new that the US is trying to impose a military or defense alliance. "We already have different kinds of initiatives…that were created during different American administrations to counter Iranian influence in the region."
"For me it's not a surprise that this initiative is coming from the United States. On the other hand, Iranians are already used to these kinds of policies implemented by the US. So I don't think it's going to add much more element to the argument."
