Q&A
Suzanne Maloney, Aaron David Miller, Karim Sadjadpour
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"Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center"
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Source: Getty
In The Media
Iran's View of the Leaked Cables
Although the Iranian president has claimed that leaked diplomatic messages detailing Arab calls for the destruction of Iran’s nuclear facilities are Western propaganda, the Gulf states have always been apprehensive of Tehran’s nuclear aspirations.
Published on Nov 29, 2010
Source: PRI's The World
Sadjadpour said he was not surprised that major regional powers such as Saudi Arabia would go so far as to call for the bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities, although he admitted to being taken aback by official statements from smaller Gulf countries such as Qatar, the UAE, Bahrain, and Oman advocating a similarly militaristic response. According to Sadjadpour, the documents reveal that amidst the “fanning of the military flames toward Iran … the United States is a voice of reason and has exercised restraint over the Gulf states and Israel.” Although many of the Gulf states have aggressively criticized Iran’s nuclear policies through private diplomatic channels, they are more reluctant to state these positions publicly. As a result, Mullins observed, there is a mismatch between the “bellicose” tone expressed in many of the WikiLeaks documents and the comparatively restrained rhetoric that Gulf countries use in their public statements on Iran.
According to Sadjadpour, an analysis of the WikiLeaks documents reveals Iran’s profound diplomatic isolation. “Its only real friend, if you can call it that, is North Korea,” he said.
About the Author
Karim Sadjadpour
Senior Fellow, Middle East Program
Karim Sadjadpour is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he focuses on Iran and U.S. foreign policy toward the Middle East.
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Recent Work
Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.
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