Rasha Saad unveils Iran's attempts at stoking even more the Gulf uprisings Pundits focussed this week on developments in the Shia uprising in Bahrain. In the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi, Abdel-Bari Atwan focussed on the proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia in Bahrain. In 'Bahrain -- between Saudi Arabia and Iran', Atwan said the arrival of Peninsula Shield Force (PSF) troops in Bahrain has caused regional controversy, particularly between Iran and Saudi Arabia. The latter sent more than 1,500 soldiers to back up the Bahraini regime. Saudi Arabia insists that the presence of these forces was a natural result of the mutual defence treaty signed between the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), while Iran sees the situation as an invasion of Bahrain and said it would not stand idle while this goes on. Iran has already filed a complaint to the United Nations. Bahraini Prime Minister Khalifah ibn Sulman Al-Khalifa, the uncle of the Bahraini king, said this week that Saudi Arabia and UAE troops will not leave Bahrain, but are there to protect the kingdom against an external threat -- presumably Iran. According to Atwan, the main problem in Bahrain is not the presence of PSF troops but the real reason the troops are there in the first place. "That is, the demonstrations and internal tension caused by the absence of reforms in the country." "Bahrain does not require a foreign invasion to sort its present problems out. Political reform is possible and the regime can survive the current protests if it produces a framework for peace," Atwan wrote. Iranian interference in the internal affairs of Bahrain is a big mistake and is not justified, Atwan maintains. But he stresses that the citizens of Bahrain are Arabs, and their protection must be an Arab responsibility. "The Bahraini government has exercised repression against its citizens in the bloodiest of ways, killing protesters as they slept in Pearl Square, and has placed additional strain on internal affairs by aggravating the Sunni- Shia sectarian divide in this small kingdom," Atwan wrote. Atwan added that the Bahraini monarch promised to return to negotiations with the protesters and their representatives as soon as calm is restored in the kingdom; calm -- imposed by repression -- has prevailed for more than a month "yet we did not see any resumption of dialogue, and only more arrests in the ranks of the opposition," Atwan argued. In the Saudi-funded daily Asharq Al-Awsat, Hoda Al-Husseini wrote that regime collapse frightens Iran's leaders. "The political unrest in the Middle East will bring about many strategic changes. The Gulf region, in its entirety, may become the centre of gravity, and an arena of entwined conflict," Al-Husseini wrote. She explained that after four weeks of protests in Syria, deep concern has taken hold of many Iranian leaders, fearing being struck by the "domino effect". "Iran's leaders are now competing against time, attempting to forestall potential trouble by circumventing it, if possible," Al-Husseini wrote. "When Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad set about quelling the angry protests condemning his victory in the 2009 presidential elections, it was anticipated that Iran would attempt to stir up unrest in other countries, as a means of circumventing its internal problems," Al-Husseini argued. This plan, Al-Husseini stressed, was indeed put into action and will continue with greater intensity in the coming period, as Iran attempts to cover up what is happening within the country. "Ever since the eruption of the popular uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, Iran's leadership has tried to take advantage of the situation. For example, what could have been a genuine movement of national demands in Bahrain was sabotaged by Iran's interference via the sectarian card. Iran wants to use its influence and networks as much as possible to incite disturbances in Bahrain and Kuwait as part of its campaign to destabilise the entire region," Al-Husseini wrote. Al-Husseini explained that as protests gained momentum in Bahrain, and with the invitation for opposition members to sit at the negotiating table, Iran resorted to the sectarian card in its attempt to cause successive disturbances which might later on spread to other areas in the region. In Al-Husseini's view, the Gulf states dispatching military troops to Bahrain is a response to Iranian involvement. "Iran does not hesitate to search for enclaves to incite, in order to keep Saudi Arabia in a continuous state of flux. However, it is careful not to do so in a way that would prompt Saudi Arabia to persuade the US of the necessity of keeping its troops in Iraq," Al-Husseini wrote. She added that Iran seeks to capitalise on the current crises by provoking as many disturbances as it can in the Gulf region, to force the US and Saudi Arabia to agree to a settlement based on Iranian terms, or to create a rift between the US and Saudi Arabia. "This may compel Washington to negotiate with Iran in order to end the disturbances before withdrawing from Iraq," Al-Husseini concluded. In the London-based daily Al-Hayat, Hamid Alkifaei wrote, 'No return to the past; the Arab world has changed forever'. According to Alkifaei, the current changes taking place in the Arab world, which began in Tunisia at the end of last year, are not temporary or incidental as some seem to believe. "They are structural and transformational and therefore, permanent. They won't go away as time goes by. On the contrary, they are developing fast, albeit to the contempt of some," Alkifaei maintained. Alkifaei suggested that everyone should adapt to these changes and espouse them so that the benefit will spread to all, not fight them or attempt to root them out. He warned that any attempt to impede these developments or even slow them down will not be fruitful. On the contrary, it may backfire and lead to developments which might be more negative than we think. "The change that we see now is not a passing one, as some would have us believe. It is enduring, fast-moving and taking roots. What is required of Arab political, economic, social and scientific institutions is to adapt to the new situation, interact with it, and lead it, as progress and development are in the interests of all. It's a surging current that will sweep away anything and everything in its path."
