The Iranians are calling on Gulf states to sever ties with the United States. Extremist groups demand the same. Leftists and Arab nationalists have been repeating these same calls for decades. All of this is understandable. It is not new, and they each have their reasons. However, when such demands come from within the Gulf itself, they are a serious mistake. These calls are harmful and ultimately serve the interests of the Gulf’s adversaries.
These three groups - the Iranian regime and its supporters, extremists, and leftists - converge on a single objective: dismantling the Gulf-American alliance. This campaign entails more than rhetoric; the words have been coupled with action.
First, the Iranian regime has sought to break up this alliance through terrorist attacks on Americans in the Gulf. In 1996, Iran was behind the bombing of the Khobar Towers in eastern Saudi Arabia, which killed 19 Americans and injured hundreds. The aim was to push the Americans out to undermine the strong relationship between Riyadh and Washington. Saudi Arabia and other Gulf capitals have exposed numerous cells seeking to do the same. None of their attempts succeeded, and the relationship endured.
Iran has sought regional hegemony for decades. It used every available tool it had to drive the Americans out, thereby clearing the way for its dominance. It succeeded in Lebanon with the 1983 bombings, and it succeeded in Iraq in 2011. It tried in the Gulf, but it has failed. The recent attacks on Gulf states in the latest war has been aimed at sabotage - at undermining this strategic partnership. The propaganda we hear today is part of that effort.
Second, extremists have pursued the same goal. Osama bin Laden chose to recruit 15 Saudis to carry out the September 11 attacks in order to damage the relationship between Saudi Arabia and the United States. Al-Qaeda’s leaders understood that bringing down the Twin Towers would not lead to the collapse of the US, but it could create a deep rift between Riyadh and Washington.
Their plans were not entirely misguided. The relationship was strained for a time, though it eventually recovered. They also knew that their actions would ignite a war between East and West, fueling hatred. Subsequent terrorist attacks followed, some in which the interests between al-Qaeda and Iran overlapped, as with the 2003 Riyadh bombings at the Al-Hamra compound.
Al-Qaeda leader Saif al-Adel ordered the bombing from within Iran. Despite ideological differences between the two sides, shared interests brought them together. Chief among them, in this case, was the destruction of relations between Saudi Arabia, the other Gulf states, and the United States.
The third group, the leftists, are those calling on the Gulf to break from Washington. They are stuck in the past, constantly reiterating obsolete slogans about colonialism, conspiracies, and reaction to distort the image of Gulf states and portraying them as agents of the West. They echo the Nasserist propaganda that led Egypt into the disaster of the 1967 war before President Anwar Sadat changed course, aligning with the West, reclaiming Egypt’s occupied territory, concluding a peace agreement, and sparing Egypt devastating wars.
It should not be forgotten that Gamal Abdel Nasser himself attempted this path through propaganda, failed, and retreated. The same pattern was followed by Saddam Hussein and Moammar al-Gaddafi. They attacked and conspired against the Gulf under the pretext that the latter was “reactionary” and “aligned with Western,” but their efforts ultimately failed.
The relationship between the Gulf and the United States is important and strategic. It is not only militarily and politically substantial, but also economically, educationally, and culturally. Gulf investments in artificial intelligence are among the largest in the world. The most prominent universities globally are American and Western institutions.
On a civilizational level, communication between the two sides is essential. Societies and nations develop through engagement with and by learning from successful nations, not from those that are struggling.
The question is: where are those who had bet on undermining the Gulf-US relationship? Bin Laden is dead. Qassem Soleimani is dead. Hassan Nasrallah is dead. Saddam is dead. Larijani is dead. Gaddafi is dead.
As for the relationship between the Gulf and the United States, it remains robust and continues to grow.
