| |
UAE: Military Solutions Won't End War 11/02 06:34
The United Arab Emirates' presidential adviser said Sunday that his country
hopes a diplomatic breakthrough in Qatar-led mediations is possible to avert a
new round of confrontation between the U.S. and Iran.
MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) -- The United Arab Emirates' presidential adviser said
Sunday that his country hopes a diplomatic breakthrough in Qatar-led mediations
is possible to avert a new round of confrontation between the U.S. and Iran.
The Iran war, which began on Feb. 28 with joint strikes by the U.S. and
Israel followed by attacks by Iran on the Gulf nations, has made it "a
watershed year" for the region and the world, UAE presidential adviser Anwar
Gargash said at a security forum in Bahrain.
"We don't really want to see another round of confrontation in the region,"
Gargash told the audience at the Manama Dialogue, an annual security summit in
Bahrain organized by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, or
IISS, that brings together regional and international state, defense and
foreign-affairs officials and experts.
Iranian negotiators are in Qatar for talks on a proposal that could reopen
the Strait of Hormuz soon, according to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas
Araghchi. He said that no direct talks are being held with the U.S. and that
the final outcome depends on answers provided by the United States to the
"Iranian questions."
In an interview shared on his Telegram channel, Araghchi said Iran hoped
that the U.S. would choose "diplomacy over other paths." He said Iran was ready
for both defense and diplomacy, depending on Washington's "rationality."
Escalation fear casts shadow over forum
A possible escalation cast a long shadow over the three-day security forum
in Bahrain's capital, Manama.
Gargash, the UAE adviser, said that the current crisis requires "a lot of
wisdom, with political tools being our main tools, and the understanding that
military solutions will only complicate the current very complicated scene that
we have and will not actually bring any quick off-ramps."
Gargash, however, acknowledged that "the rules of logic" show that the U.S.
and Iranian stances are far apart.
"If these positions are not bridged, then we have to worry about the worst,"
Gargash said.
He said it's not in the interest of the region or Iran to withstand another
round of war.
It was a sentiment echoed by other Gulf and Arab officials at the forum.
Egypt's foreign minister Badr Abdelatty, a day earlier, told the gathering:
"The second round (of escalation) will be more dangerous, more destructive, and
it will lead to nowhere."
But Gargash added that his country and the region are braced for the
possibility of escalation.
Before a ceasefire was reached in April, the UAE faced the largest number of
airborne attacks from Iran, with more than 3,000 drone and ballistic missile
attacks targeting airports, military and oil facilities, according to IISS.
Most of those attacks were intercepted.
Since then, Gulf nations have spent billions of dollars to boost their
defense capabilities.
Gargash said that the war has solidified U.S.-UAE relations, making them
"even more important" and at the heart of the UAE's ability to defend itself.
Bahrain welcomes efforts to reduce tensions
At the conference, Bahraini Foreign Affairs Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid
Al Zayani said that his country also welcomes "every effort to reduce tensions,
prevent escalation and create opportunities for dialogue."
Al Zayani said that Iran has shown what he called a pattern of attacks or
threat of attacks threatening the region's and the world's stability and
prosperity by targeting sea, air and data facilities.
He said Iran has continued to do so even after a ceasefire was reached and
as recently as last month, threatening underwater data cables. He described the
attacks by Iran-backed Houthi rebels on neighboring Saudi Arabia as part of the
pattern.
"These attacks are part of one continued pattern," he said. "The hands may
change, the approach doesn't."
Iran fired 500 drones and nearly 200 ballistic missiles toward Bahrain, home
to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, at the height of the war, according to IISS. The
attacks hit the naval base, residential buildings, the financial district and a
water desalination plant.
This summer, Houthi rebels have escalated their attacks on Saudi oil
infrastructure and airports, saying they were a response to Saudi airstrikes on
Sanaa airport. The Houthis have hit critical oil pipelines and disrupted air
traffic in the kingdom.
Another issue that prevailed over the forum was the lack of a coordinated
defense response among the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council, which includes
Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman.
At the height of the war with Iran, the response from the Gulf countries
that bore the brunt of Iranian strikes was at the national level, each working
with U.S. command and control centers in the region. That, according to IISS,
at times hindered their overall defensive effort.
Gargash offered a rare candid criticism.
"I have to come and say that we have not collectively risen to the
challenge. Nationally, we have. Each state independently has, or sometimes in
terms of bilateral cooperation," Gargash said. "In one of our most critical
crises, we collectively have not risen to the challenge."
|
|
