The economic benefits Iran has received from the nuclear deal with the P5 + 1 countries of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany have not been bad at all, even if they have not quite been great. The lifting of oil sanctions against Iran and the Saudi cooperation with other OPEC members have also increased international oil prices, helping Iran to boost its damaged economy. Iran has ordered more than one hundred new civil aircraft from Boeing and Airbus in order to renew its aviation after a 40-year ban on purchasing planes and equipment. More importantly, Iran's return to the international community and its breaking of its diplomatic isolation has been just as significant. Only one year has passed since the signature of the Iran nuclear deal, but the Iranian public has already been seeing significant improvements. Yet, one thing that has not changed is Iran's aggressive behaviour and hostile attitude towards its Arab neighbours, particularly Saudi Arabia. Most of Iran's neighbours had hopes that with the election of Hassan Rouhani as the country's president and in the light of the nuclear deal, Iran would become a friendlier nation. Just months before the next presidential elections in Iran, Rouhani after almost four years in office has been making further visits to the country's neighbours. The new invitations have come from Kuwait and Oman, and Rouhani has previously visited the latter country since it hosted the secret meetings between Tehran and Washington that eventually led to open negotiations over Iran's controversial nuclear programme and later the nuclear agreement. With all the recent changes in Washington and presidential elections coming up in both France and Iran, Rouhani was making renewed efforts to reach out to the Gulf countries on 15 February when he travelled first to Muscat in Oman and then to Kuwait to discuss ways of improving ties between Iran and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members. In a 14 February opinion piece on the Iranian government news site Dolat, presidential deputy chief of staff for political affairs Hamid Aboutalebi insisted that Rouhani's “regional initiative” would create an opportunity “whose value our friends in the Persian Gulf region should understand”. The Arab countries are presenting the visits as an opportunity for Iran to build ties with its neighbours in order to stabilise the region to the benefit of all concerned. While Iran has in the past been suspicious of its neighbours, UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Garghash told the US network CNN a day before Rouhani's arrival in Muscat that the GCC would not be asking the US to cancel the nuclear deal with Iran. “In the Gulf there is no negative opinion about the Iran deal. What we ask of Iran is that it does not interfere in our political affairs,” Garghash told CNN. Rouhani's administration has thus embarked on another charm offensive in the Gulf similar to the Gulf tour carried out by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohamed Javad Zarif when Rouhani was first elected in 2013. Iranian officials are calling the visits important in reducing regional tensions. A detente between Tehran and Riyadh potentially brokered by other GCC states would be a critical step towards de-escalating the deepening crises in the region. But in order for this to come about, there will need to be improvements on both sides in working towards this admirable goal and maintaining open lines of communication and dialogue. Two topics which according to Arab officials are their main concerns cannot be discussed with Rouhani, since these issues, the situation in Yemen and the Iranian missile tests, are the domain of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and the hardliners in Tehran. Some Western nations that participated in the nuclear talks with Iran say the missile tests are contrary to the spirit of the agreement, even though they do not violate UN Security Council Resolution 2231 from a legal perspective. At this fragile point in Iran's relations with the West, will Iran now take provocative actions that could undermine its credibility with the international community? One journalist with the Arab media dismissed Iran's claim that it had been threatened often in the past and needed to carry out missile tests in order to deter its enemies. “Iran must show that it is measured in its response to perceived threats and that it can defend itself without resorting to petty games and war-mongering,” he said. Iran is trying to frame the missile tests as a defensive issue stemming from its experience during the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s, but the real issue is the aggressive nature and pace of the tests. Observers are asking why, if the missile programme is purely defensive, Iran feels the need to threaten its neighbours with it, even writing “annihilate Israel” on the side of some of the missiles. Why is Iran improving the accuracy and range of its missiles, allowing its proxies in Yemen to threaten Riyadh with such capabilities? Such questions, frequently asked in the regional media, have not received a proper answer from Iranian officials. “These actions do not appear to be defensive, and they will prevent Iran from building trust with its neighbours and the world,” one Arab journalist said. If Rouhani's visits do not have that much to offer to the region, they may at least help to smooth the path for Iranian pilgrimages during the Muslim Hajj this year. Apparently with the mediation of Oman and Kuwait, Saudi Arabia will cooperate with Iran this year so that Iranian pilgrims can attend the Hajj, which they missed last year. This is a good start in improved relations, especially if it is followed up after the Iranian presidential elections in May.
