Abstract
Since the advent of the Islamic revolution, Iran has become the number one security preoccupation of the Gulf Arab states. The Gulf Arabs’ view of the Iranian threat is multi-dimensional. They view Iran as a potential source of direct military attack, and a source of internal subversion. In fact, they view the very existence of Iran and its current ideology of revolutionary Islam as a mortal threat to their security and survival.
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Notes
For example, British support for the Al-Khalifa family in Bahrain was primarily responsible for Iran’s loss of influence in Bahrain. See Fereydoun Adamiyat, Bahrain Islands: A Legal and Diplomatic Study of the British-Iranian Controversy (New York: Praeger, 1955 ). Similarly, British support enabled Sheikh Khaz’al to develop a semiautonomous position in the Khuzistan Province.
See R. K. Ramazani, The Persian Gulf: Iran’s Role (Charlottesville: The University of Virginia Press, 1973 ). The book contains an excellent bibliography on Iranian sources.
Quoted in Fereydoun Adamiyat, Andisheh-e-Taraghi Va Hokoumat Ghanoun ( The Idea of Progress and the Rule of Law) (Tehran: Intesharat Kharazami, 1351, 1973 ).
See Hamid Enayat, ‘Iran and the Arabs’, in Sylvia Haim (ed.), Arab Nationalism and a Wider World ( New York: American Association for Peace in The Middle East, 1971 ).
See A. J. Arbery (ed.), The Legacy of Persia ( Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1952 ).
See William B. Quandt. Saudi Arabia in the 1980s: Foreign Policy, Security and Oil (Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution, 1981). However, this cooperation has run into some problems because of Pakistan’s refusal to alter its friendly relations with Iran, or allow its troops to take part in any military action against Iran. As a result, according to some reports, the Saudis are sending the Pakistani contingent home. See The Washington Post, 29 November 1987.
For example, in Kuwait Sunni fundamentalists have attacked the offices of Iran’s national airline. See Joseph Kostiner, ‘Islamic Revivalism in Bahrain and Kuwait’, in Shirin T. Hunter (ed.), The Politics of Islamic Revivalism ( Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1988 ).
See R. M. Burrell and A. J. Cottrell, Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan: Tensions and Dilemmas (Washington, DC: The Center for Strategic and International Studies, Georgetown University, 1974). The Leaders of the Front recently gave an interview to the Arab Times. See FBIS, SA, 21 August 1985.
For an excellent discussion of these issues see David Hirst, Oil and Public Opinion in the Middle East ( London: Faber & Faber, 1966 ).
See Nazli Choucri, International Politics of Energy Interdependence: The Case of Petroleum ( Lexington, Mass.: D. C. Heath, 1976 ).
On Saudi-Iranian cooperation against radicalism and competition for power, see Judith Perrara, ‘Together Against the Red Peril: Iran and Saudi Arabia Rivals for Superpower Role’, The Middle East, no. 43, May 1978.
See Shirin T. Hunter, ‘Syrian-Iranian Relations: Alliance of Convenience Or More?’ Middle East Insight, May/June 1985.
For a full and excellent discussion of these issues, see R. K. Ramazani, Revolutionary Iran: Challenge and Response In The Middle East (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986).
See Shirin T. Hunter, ‘After the Ayatullah’, Foreign Policy, no. 66, Spring 1987.
See Shireen T. and Robert E. Hunter, ‘The Post-Camp David Arab World’, in Robert O. Freedman (ed.), The Middle East Since Camp David ( Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1985 ).
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© 1989 M. E. Ahrari
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Hunter, S. (1989). Gulf Security: An Iranian Perspective. In: Ahrari, M.E. (eds) The Gulf and International Security. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-10864-0_3
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