With the emergence of the Arab Spring, the political narrative that threatened the GCC in the 1980s is now being repeated even more aggressively. However, the fear now is not so much of smaller Gulf States looking elsewhere (bandwagon) like it was in the 1980s, but it is actually of people/citizens looking elsewhere. The Arab street is now stronger and louder than ever and has already succeeded in ousting four dictatorial governments (Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen) making the Gulf region even more vulnerable to instability. On the other hand, Iran’s positive reputation and popularity in Arab streets is growing steadily particularly in Arab states populated with Shia citizens. Mousavian argues that this is due to Iran’s active
“support for the Palestinian cause” and its unfriendly “opposition to the Western military presence in the region” combined with its vocal hostility towards Israel.23 These are important political aspects that the GCC cannot compete with due to its alignment with western superpowers that has, in turn, amplified the bloc’s lack of credibility in the Arab street.
Therefore, the current unrest on the Arab street and Iran’s exploitation of the situation raises some significant concerns for the GCC states who have continuously regarded Iran as an enemy that poses domestic and regional threats to their security.
This chapter also examines the extent to which this political narrative that sees Iran as a major enemy is shared by Iraq. Iraq’s relationship with Iran is more complex than how the GCC states have framed it so far. Until the gaps in the current political narratives are located and addressed, the relationship between Iraq and the GCC has very little chance to improve and prosper.
23. Seyed Hossein Mousavian, “A Great Partnership: Iran, Iraq and the GCC,” Forum for Arab and International Relations, Doha, December 2, 2012, available from: FairForum.org:
http://www.fairforum.org.
Iraq’s relationship with Iran has been a prominent factor in shaping the GCC’s unfriendly relationship with Baghdad. As indicated earlier, the GCC has always framed its relationship with Iran from a zero-sum perspective and, by default, it has always viewed Iraq’s relationship with Iran from the same perspective, it “can either be an ally against Iran, or it can be an enemy.”24 However, Iraq has a distinctive historical connection with Iran that makes its relationship with Tehran inevitably closer than its ties with any of its neighboring Arab countries.
It must be clarified here that a “distinctive historical connection” here does not refer to sectarian loyalties but rather to political ties where sectarian measures play a part. In other words, Iran’s prominent role in hosting and nurturing Iraqi opposition movements during the Baath regime, a role that many Arab countries distanced themselves from, has a great impact on the nature of the relationship and the level of cooperation that has then developed between the two countries after the fall of the Baath regime. The prominent Shia political parties that are currently operating in Iraq have all enjoyed Iran’s support at some stage of their development, an important point that needs to be taken into consideration when analyzing the relationship between the two countries. A brief historical account of the relationship will put things in clearer perspective.
The oldest Shia oppositional organized movement in Iraq is the Dawa party (Hizb Al Dawa Al Islamiya).25 The Dawa party was organized in the late 1950s as a response to secular and leftist political ideologies.26 The aim of the party was to have a religious-based rule in Iraq where politics conforms to Islamic teachings.
Al-Dawa developed as an independent Iraqi party that was politically distant from Shias in Iran. However, in the 1970s, when Shia political activism was officially targeted by the Baath regime, many Dawa officials found refuge in neighboring countries including Iran, Syria, and Lebanon.27 However, although the Dawa party was given sanctuary in Iran, they remained to a large extent independent from Iran’s political and ideological control as there were some major ideological differences
24. Hassan, “Time Is Right.”
25. This is the official website for the Dawa party: http://www.islamicdawaparty.com/.
26. Rodger Shanahan, “Shi‘a Political Development in Iraq: The Case of the Islamic Da’wa Party,”
Third World Quarterly 25, no. 5 (2004): 944, available at: doi: 10.1080/0143659042000232045 (accessed March 10, 2013).
27. Shanahan, “Shi‘a Political Development,” 947. Argument can also be found in Reidar Visser, Iran’s Role in Post-Occupation Iraq: Enemy, Good Neighbor, or Overlord? (New York:
Century Foundation, 2009), 10.
and disagreements particularly in regard to the “principle of clerical rule” (Wilayat al-faqih).28
On the other hand, there are some opposition movements that have emerged from within Iran such as the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (hereafter ISCI), formally known as the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI).
ISCI is a Shia-based opposition party that developed in the 1980s under the direct leadership of Iran.29 Iran, in an attempt to create strong Iraqi allies, invested heavily in funding, organizing, mobilizing, and training ISCI members. Therefore, this opposition movement was pro-Iran in all its ideologies and political visions. A third Shia-based opposition movement that has recently developed an authoritative voice in Iraq is the Sadrist movement. The Sadrist movement developed in Iraq in the 1990s under the leadership of Muhammad Muhammad Sadiq al-Sadr.30 It grew independently from al-Dawa and ISCI parties and was not on a good terms with either of them, a situation that continues today. Within the Sadrist movement developed Jaish Al Mahdi in 200331 that was formally disbanded in 2008 but resulted in the emergence of other groups such as Asaib Ahl al-Haq and Promised Day Brigade.32 The Sadrist movement was initially particularly hostile towards Iran, though Tehran with its strategic foreign policy was able to change this position, but not entirely. However, since 2008, Moqtada Al-Sadr, the leader of the Sadrist movement, has been undertaking his religious studies in Iran. This is an example of how being religiously aligned with Iran’s Hawza can successfully open the door to a political partnership..
Apart from opposition movements, Iran also provided a sanctuary for over 400,000 displaced Iraqis when mass deportations took place in 1980s33 as
28. Visser, Iran’s Role, 10. Argument can also be found in Shanahan, “Shi‘a Political Develop-ment,” 947.
29. N. Watts James, “Iranian Influence in Shi‘a Groups of Iraq” (master’s diss., Naval Post-graduate School, 2012), 29.
30. Visser, Iran’s Role, 11.
31. James, “Iranian Influence,” 35.
32. There is also an argument that sees Jaish Al Mahdi as an ideological formation that was not disbanded but its military activities were suspended by Sadr. Recently, Al-Sadr announced his plan to restructure Jaish Al Mahdi particularly in Baghdad and its surrounding areas. Announcement cited in “Al-Sadr Decides to Restructure Jaish Al Mahdi and Calls on His Followers to Obey,” Al-Alam News Network (in Arabic), November 29, 2013, available at: http://www.alalam.ir/news/1539335 (accessed December 1, 2013).
33. Ali Babakhan, “The Deportation of Shi‘is during the Iran-Iraq War: Causes and Consequences,” in Ayatollahs, Sufis and Ideologues: State, Religion and Social Movements in
well as thousands of others who fled to Iran in the 1990s. Many of those Iraqis and their newly-established families returned to Iraq after the fall of the Baath regime creating a pro-Iranian community within the Iraqi population. It is also important not to overlook Iran’s major support for the Kurds against Saddam in the 1980s, particularly their financial and military support in 1984.34 Also, important to consider is the role Iran played in supporting the Intifada in 1991 especially when “Iraqi Shiites begged at the Kuwait border for sanctuary … [but] No state in the region lifted a finger to help the vic¬tims, except Iran.”35 These historical accounts that signify Iran’s prominent role in defying the Baath regime places Iran in a more favorable position – on both state and non-state level – among those in Iraq who are hostile to the Baath regime. This historically distinctive relationship with Iran is captured in the words of Ibrahim Al-Jaffari, a former Prime Minister of Iraq, who described Iran as “a friendly state which stood by Iraq’s side in time of crisis. It harboured Iraqis when Saddam Hussein killed, displaced and harmed many of them.”36 Many Iraqis, on the other hand, feel betrayed by their fellow Arab neighbors who remained passive, if not supportive, of the dictatorial regime and the US invasion.37
In addition to these distinctive historical ties, there are also geopolitical ties that link the two states. Iraq’s territorial unity is of particular interest to Iran because any territorial division in Iraq will affect the latter tremendously due to its ethnic geopolitics.38 Therefore, and unlike what is commonly believed, a stable, unified and nationalist Iraq is one of Iran’s significant foreign policy interests particularly in its current state where it has been facing some serious issues at the domestic
Iraq, ed. Faleh Abdul-Jabar (London: Saqi Books, 2002), 199. Argument is also found in Joyce N. Wiley, “The Iraqi Shi‘as: Origin, Ideology, and Current Politic Goals,” in Iraq: Its History, People, and Politics, ed. Shams C. Inati (New York: Humanity Books, 2003), 159.
34. Carole A. O’Leary, “The Kurds of Iraq: Recent History, Future Prospects,” Middle East Review of International Affairs, 6, no. 4 (2002): 26.
35. Augustus Richard Norton, “The Shiite ‘Threat’ Revisited,” Current History—New York Then Philadelphia 107, no. 704 (2007): 437.
36. David A. Rousu, “Beyond the Shatt al-Arab: How the Fall of Saddam Hussein Changed Iran-Iraq Relations” (master’s diss., University of Arizona, 2010): 38. Argument also found in “US Memo: Iraqi PM Said Iran, Syria Armed Militants,” CBS News February 3, 2011, available at: http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-501713_162-7313744.html (accessed April 2, 2013).
37. Vali Nasr, “Regional Implications of Shi‘a Revival in Iraq,” Washington Quarterly 27, no. 3 (2004): 14, available at: doi: 10.1162/016366004323090232 (accessed April 1, 2013).
38. Kayhan, “A Modest Nationalism in Iraq.”
and international levels. Some political analysts rightly see Iran as a “state with the greatest stake in keeping Iraq unified and ensuring its sovereignty, because Iraq’s disintegration could adversely affect Iran’s national integrity and its aspirations to become a regional leader in the Middle East.”39 Of course, Iran’s interest in a unified Iraq matches Iraq’s own national interest in keeping the country undivided.40 Therefore, there is a common political dialogue between Iran and Iraq that is not particularly shared by other neighboring states at this stage. This explains Iraq collaborating with Iran on several occasions to mediate agreements with different political parties to ensure unity and prevent divisions.41
At the same time, it is important to also acknowledge that Iran has been very strategic in its foreign policy. Like many other neighboring states, Iran has a great geopolitical interest in Iraq and has tried its best to build a strong alliance with Baghdad. Iran was among the first states to officially recognize the new democratic system in Iraq and by default the elected Iraqi government.42 Iran also responded very actively to Iraq’s request for international economic investments, positioning itself as the second largest trading partner after Turkey.43 However, this was happening while Iraq was trying eagerly to reach out to the Gulf States but facing reluctance.44 For example, 10 years after the change of regime, Saudi Arabia still does not have diplomatic relations with Iraq on the ground, nor does Qatar. Iraq hosted the Arab League Summit and hoped that this would open up opportunities for improving relationships with neighboring Gulf States; however, Saudi Arabia and Qatar restricted their representation to low-level delegations, sending a clear message of reluctance to cooperate.45 Also, GCC economic investment in Iraq is very slow and issues regarding debts and borders are yet to be resolved. In addition to all that, there are other barriers to communication including the red carpet reception given
39. Mohammed Ayoob, “Only Iran Can Save Iraq,” CNN, December 28, 2011, available from:
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/12/28/opinion/ayoob-iran-iraq-sectarian-strife (accessed March 24, 2013). Argument can also be found in Kayhan, “A Modest Nationalism in Iraq.”
40. Some Iraqi politicians like Ahmed Al-Alwani advocate regionalism; however, Al-Maliki’s government has been very clear about its support for unity.
41. An example of this is the 2008 ceasefire agreement between Al-Sadr and Al-Maliki’s government.
42. McGovern, “Iraq’s New Reality,” 6.
43. Mohammed Ayoob, “Only Iran Can Save Iraq.”
44. Zayd Alisa, “Saudi Arabia and Qatar Ratcheting up Sectarian and Ethnic Tensions in Iraq,”
Diplomatic Courier April 1, 2013, available at: http://www.diplomaticourier.com /news/
regions/middle-east/1421 (accessed April 15, 2013).
45. Alisa, “Saudi Arabia and Qatar.”
to Tariq Al Hashimi and the refuge provided for some Baathist officials.46 More recently, the complications with the Gulf Cup of Nations worsened the relationship even further with the Ministry of Youth and Sport denouncing the decision to switch the tournament from Iraq to Saudi Arabia as “politically motivated.”47 All of this is happening while Iran is trying eagerly to build a long-lasting relationship with Iraq which, on its part, is looking for international friendship and support that could be of assistance in its transitional state. Therefore, the Iraq-Iran relationship has developed progressively after the fall of the Baath regime and this is particularly due to “the political weakness of one state that allows interference by another state for its own self-interest.”48 This process of interference and alignment was made easier by the historical ties that link the two states and their people. However, as Iraq builds its socio-economic strength and becomes a tough competitor in the oil market, this aspect of alignment is now taking a different shape and becoming more balanced than it has been previously.49 As Maggiolini argues “Iraq is re-emerging as an actor in its own right and recovering from being the battlefield of competing regionalisms.”50 It is important to note, therefore, that Iraq’s relationship with Iran is different to that of the GCC’s relationship with Iran and that the Iraq-Iran relationship would never fit into an either/or analogy as the GCC would like it to be.
46. Alisa, “Saudi Arabia and Qatar.”
47. “Iraq Pull out of Gulf Cup in Spat with Saudi Arabia,” SBS News, October 2013, available at: http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2013/10/10/iraq-pull-out-gulf-cup-spat-saudi-arabia (accessed October 22, 2013).
48. Maximilian Terhalle, “Are the Shia Rising?” Middle East Policy 14, no. 2 (2007): 75, available at: doi: 10.1111/j.1475-4967.2007.00298.x (accessed February 15, 2013).
49. Gause in Robert Tollast and F. Gregory Gause III, “Iraq in the Middle—Part I: F. Gregory Gause III on Iraq’s Relations with the GCC,” Small Wars Journal, May 23, 2012, available at: http://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/iraq-in-the-middle-part-i-f-gregory-gause-iii-on-iraq%E2%80%99s-relations-with-the-gcc (accessed March 12, 2013). Argument is also reflected in Lydia Khalil’s article, “Nobody’s Client: The Reawakening of Iraqi Sovereignty,”
Lowy Institute for International Politics, April 2009 available at: http://www.lowyinstitute.
org (accessed April 26, 2013).
50. Paolo Maggiolini, “Iraq’s Foreign Policy Directions and Regional Developments. Where Does Iraqi Foreign Policy Start?” ISPI Analysis no. 199 (2013): 5, available at: http://
www.ispionline.it/en/pubblicazione/iraqs-foreign-policy-directions-and-regional-developments-where-does-iraqi-foreign-policy-start-9086 (accessed October 14, 2013).