SPECIAL MEDIA REACTION: IRAN AND THE GCC

UNCLAS ABU DHABI 000919 SIPDIS STATE FOR NEA/ARP; NEA/PPD; NEA/RA; INR/R/MR; PA; INR/NESA; INR/B; RRU-NEA IIP/G/NEA-SA WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE; NSC SECDEF FOR OASD/PA USCINCCENT FOR POLAD LONDON FOR SREEBNY E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KPAO OIIP KMDR TC SUBJECT: SPECIAL MEDIA REACTION: IRAN AND THE GCC ¶1. SUMMARY: UAE semi-official daily Al-Ittihad carried numerous editorials criticizing Iranian official remarks about removing 'kingdom regimes' in the region on August 14. A UAE columnist in "Al-Ittihad" wrote a parable contrasting the Iranian Shah, referred to as 'father,' and the current Iranian regime, referred as 'son,' deducing that both are bad but the latter is the worst. Another UAE columnist questions the notable silence in the Gulf towards consecutive Iranian threats against the security of the GCC States. Another UAE journalist feels intimidated by Iranian official remarks calling to remove conventional regimes in the region and wondered why Iran is targeting Arab and Muslim countries instead of the U.S. and Israel. Yet another writer opines that Iran will only hurt itself and will not impact any of the major countries if it closes the Strait of Hormuz. End summary ¶2. Comparing the Iranian Shah, referred to as 'father,' and the current Iranian government, referred to as 'son,' UAE columnist Ahmed Amiri wrote 08/14 in Abu Dhabi-based Arabic semi-official daily "Al-Ittihad" (circulation 65,000): "It is said that there was once a man who used to exhume graves, steal things from them and then re-bury the dead bodies. When this man died, no one from the village offered condolences. This saddened the man's son. The son came up with a method of making these villagers pray for mercy on his father; he went on exhuming graves, stealing things from them and then disfiguring the dead bodies, but unlike his father, he left them exposed. It worked, and people started to recall the days of his father and say: 'May God bless his father.'" ¶3. Under the headline "A notable Gulf silence", UAE columnist Mohammed Khalfan Al-Sawafi wrote 08/13 in Abu Dhabi-based Arabic semi-official daily "Al-Ittihad": "There is nothing that justifies the Arab Gulf's silent position regarding the escalation between the U.S. and Iran. The GCC States will be the losers in any military escalation. I may not be exaggerating to say that the GCC States have become part of any potential war due to the consecutive Iranian threats against the security of these States. The GCC's commitment to neutrality will not help dissuade Iran from distancing its missiles away from the GCC States; they must therefore be positive and adopt a very clear position towards Iran." ¶4. Under the headline "For how long will the Gulf stillness and the Iranian threat continue?," UAE journalist Mohammed Al-Hammadi wrote in an 08/13 op-ed in Abu Dhabi-based Arabic semi-official daily "Al-Ittihad": "An Iranian official recently said that the Middle East will remain a tense hub unless the conventional regimes there [kingdoms] are eradicated! Iran always claims that its greatest enemy is Israel and the Great Satan, i.e. the U.S., yet it directs all of its hostility and threats only towards the GCC States! It only abuses the peaceful countries [GCC] while it tries to win Israel's friendship and [politically] flirts with the U.S." ¶5. Under the headline "Iranian threat in the balance of world power", UAE political analyst Humaid Al-Mansouri wrote 08/12 in Abu Dhabi-based Arabic semi-official daily "Al-Ittihad": "Iran is wrong to think that it can just close the Strait of Hormuz. By doing so, it will take itself back 100 years without impacting any of the major countries. It is true that Iran shares a historical civilization with Arab and Islamic countries. Now, it has become the greatest threat against civilization; Iran uses religion as a tool to do what the international laws ban. The GCC States should be careful of Iran's self-destructive strategy because this strategy could take us and the region backwards. Those black turbans they [Iranian clerics] cover their heads with are full of deadly creed-based ambitions; didn't they once say they will take Bahrain after the three UAE islands? They want to conquer the Arabian Gulf." QUINN