With the stated aim of containing “Iran’s malign behavior” and bringing “stability to the region,” the Trump administration has proposed a collective security pact tentatively known as “the Middle East Strategic Alliance” (MESA). The MESA would bring about the six countries from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) along with Egypt and Jordan together under the guise of “Arab NATO” to confront Iran.
Trump’s Arab Nato Project is Doomed ; Seyed Hossein Mousavian. Newsweek. October 16, 2018
Panel Discussion: Saudi Arabia and Iran as the new decisive frontline in the Middle East
The European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR)
Speakers:
Abdel Aziz Abu Hamad Aluwaisheg, Assistant Secretary General for Political and Negoatiation Affairs, GCC
Bassma Kodmani, Execeutive Director, Arab Reform Initiative
Seyed Hossein Mousavian, Former Iranian Ambassador and Foreign Policy Advisor to the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council
Justin Vaïsse, Director of Policy Planning, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, France
Moderator: Julien Barnes-Dacey, Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme, ECFR
Full Video of Panel Discussion
“Saudi Arabia and Iran as the new decisive frontline in the Middle East,” ECFR Panel Discussion, May 28, 2018.
“With tensions between regional rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia at the brink, a rare dialogue recently took place between two former senior Saudi and Iranian officials. Hosted by the Center for Strategic Studies at the Joint Special Operations University in Tampa, Florida, former Saudi Ambassador to the United States and Director General of Saudi Arabia’s intelligence agency Prince Turki al Faisal debated Ambassador Hossein Mousavian, a former spokesman for Iran’s nuclear negotiators and chairman of the foreign policy committee of Iran’s National Security Council. The lively discussion touched on each country’s view of its security environment and the broader issues affecting the Iran-Saudi relationship. LobeLog has obtained the full transcript of the conversation, and the following is an abbreviated excerpt covering the key points.”
“A Saudi-Iranian Dialogue On Regional Security,” Seyed Hossein Mousavian, LobeLog, April 23, 2018.
“In order to decrease tensions and enter into a process of cooperation, Riyadh and Tehran must gain a correct understanding of each other’s national security threats. The cooperation option should entail Riyadh and Tehran to openly and without preconditions enter into bilateral dialogue and put all of their security concerns and aims on the negotiations table.”
“The Widening Saudi–Iran Divide,” Seyed Hossein Mousavian, Cairo Review, Winter 2018.
“At the moment, the GCC has three options for dealing with Iran. A review of them reveals that only one is truly tenable and can ensure the long-term security of the GCC states, Iran and the region.”
“The GCC’s three options for dealing with Iran,” Al Monitor, Seyed Hossein Mousavian, March 29, 2017.
MEDAYS FORUM 2016 in Tangiers, Morocco. Panel Discussion on “US-Islamic World Relations: What’s Next After the Failure of the Obama Administration?”
“US-Islamic World Relations: What’s Next?” MEDays 2016, Avec Manuel Hassassian, Philip J. Crowley, Hossein Mousavian, Mouafac Harb, Hasni Abidi, Olivier Kempf and Ramadan Abu Jazar. Moderated by Anas El Gomati, December 10, 2016.
Full Video of Panel Discussion
“Former diplomat and Princeton University visiting scholar Seyed Hossein Mousavian will deliver a lecture titled “Iran and United States: What Lies Ahead in the Trump Era,” as part of the Security Seminar Series. With uncertainty surrounding President-elect Donald Trump’s stance Iran-U.S. relations, Mousavian will discuss what foreign policies we might expect.”
“Iran and United States: What Lies Ahead in the Trump Era,” Lecture by Seyed Hossein Mousavian, Brown University Watson Institute, December 5, 2016.
The Helsinki Accords started a process whereby the states of NATO and the Warsaw Pact, as well the neutral states of Europe, could sit down without preconditions and discuss their security concerns … The West must use its leverage with its GCC allies to encourage them to engage Iran. Only through such talks aimed at an established regional cooperation system akin to the OSCE — where local powers take into consideration each other’s interests and cooperate against common threats — can a durable peace be reached in the Persian Gulf.
“How Trump can deal with Iran-GCC conflict,” Seyed Hossein Mousavian, Al Monitor, November 29, 2016.
“Regional Security Cooperation in the Gulf: Helsinki as a Model,” Panel Discussion, Third Annual Abu Dhabi Strategic Debate, November 13, 2016.
Moderator: Dr. Mahmoud Mohamedou, Deputy Director and Academic Dean at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy
The relationship between Iran and its southern Arab neighbors — namely, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states — has been turbulent for the past few decades. The GCC states were under the shadow of Iraq and Iran, the two prevailing powers in the Persian Gulf, for much of the 20th century, with the latter historically being the more dominant power. Stricken with internal disputes, weak central governments and rivalries among themselves, the Arab states along the Persian Gulf’s southern coast were never in a position to challenge the powers to their north.
The situation changed after Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, which brought political Islam to the geopolitical scene. The autocratic Persian Gulf monarchies immediately felt threatened by this new political force, which had the potential to undermine their legitimacy and jeopardize their rule. Within this context, in 1981 they established the GCC, comprised of Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The outbreak of the Iran-Iraq War in 1980 had provided a convenient excuse to exclude Iraq and Yemen, notable omissions even though the latter does not border on the Persian Gulf, and Iraq has close to 40 miles of coastline.
“What Obama should say to King Salman during his visit,” Hossein Mousavian, Al Monitor, September 4, 2015.
