Realign the Sheikhdom
Dubai could benefit from paying attention to the old adage: don’t bite the hand that feeds you. By Karim Ja’fari.
The news published in the UAE-based Gulf News on June 21, 2010 (UAE tightens noose on front companies) bespeaks the new approach Abu Dhabi has taken in dealing with Iran. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, the UAE leaders’ decision is a result not only of U.S. prescribed policies, but also the sheikhdom’s decision to flaunt its self-confidence in front of Iran.
Specious Arab territorial claims over three Iranian islands (Abu Musa and the Tunbs) have not yet persuaded Iranian officials to cool relations with the United Arab Emirates and modulate their interaction with this young country. Internal tensions that the UAE has faced since its establishment in 1971 have made the demonization of its neighbors a favorite tactic of its rulers.
The Islamic Revolution and Iran’s involvement in an unwanted war with Iraq catapulted Dubai into prosperity –a desert-city from where once you could easily see the mountainous Ra’s-ul-Khaimah, and a place whose entire wealth would barely comprise one camel load. If it weren’t for hundreds of billions of dollars of Iranians’ capital (and manpower), neither U.S. financial support –which has failed to rescue Egypt’s poor after thirty years- nor the Arabian style of management -which has proved its inefficiency in most Arab countries- would have turned Dubai into the dream city it is today.
Since the mid-1990s, many Iranian officials and political pundits have demanded that the government give a strong response to the UAE’s –particularly Abu Dhabi’s- presumptuous behavior. To date, these demands have unfortunately fallen on deaf ears. And due to the ignoring of such calls we are now faced with the present situation: after making a fortune from Iranian capital and human resources, the Emirati sheikhs not only reject further Iranian investment, but also cooperate with Washington in enforcing sanctions against Tehran. Iranian citizens who have visited Dubai during recent months say that unlike a few years ago, Dubai officials are actively trying to discourage Iranian businesspersons and companies. Indeed, Dubai now seems to believe that it is doing Iran a favor by hosting its citizens.
Although the official trade volume between Iran and the UAE is 12 billion dollars, the real figure –taking into account trafficked goods- will mount to 20 billion dollars, and amount not easily expendable for an economy as small as that of the United Arab Emirates. Why the Emiratis have decided to dispense with this financial advantage is truly significant. Is it a way to tell Iranians that the sheikhdom does not depend on their money and human resources anymore?
Aware of the UAE’s overt and covert agenda, the Islamic Republic of Iran should wield its ‘strategic depth’ in such a way as to remind the sheikhdom’s rulers that co-existence with an old neighbor should not be an item of trade-off with Washington. A glance at the internal conflicts between the seven emirates of the UAE shows that this ‘yoked’ federation, whose leadership has been usurped by the sheikhs of Abu Dhabi and is gradually turning into a peculiar Arab dictatorship, is vulnerable to the slightest pressures.
The risk to once long standing friendships between Iran and the sheikhs of Ra’s-ul-Khaimah, Umm-al-Quwain, Sharjah, Fujairah, and even Dubai, is a clear sign of how by demonizing Iran, Abu Dhabi has now essentially enslaved these emirates and aspires to cement its domination of them through its oil revenues.
The Islamic Revolution and Iran’s involvement in an unwanted war with Iraq catapulted Dubai into prosperity –a desert-city from where once you could easily see the mountainous Ra’s-ul-Khaimah, and a place whose entire wealth would barely comprise one camel load. If it weren’t for hundreds of billions of dollars of Iranians’ capital (and manpower), neither U.S. financial support –which has failed to rescue Egypt’s poor after thirty years- nor the Arabian style of management -which has proved its inefficiency in most Arab countries- would have turned Dubai into the dream city it is today.
Since the mid-1990s, many Iranian officials and political pundits have demanded that the government give a strong response to the UAE’s –particularly Abu Dhabi’s- presumptuous behavior. To date, these demands have unfortunately fallen on deaf ears. And due to the ignoring of such calls we are now faced with the present situation: after making a fortune from Iranian capital and human resources, the Emirati sheikhs not only reject further Iranian investment, but also cooperate with Washington in enforcing sanctions against Tehran. Iranian citizens who have visited Dubai during recent months say that unlike a few years ago, Dubai officials are actively trying to discourage Iranian businesspersons and companies. Indeed, Dubai now seems to believe that it is doing Iran a favor by hosting its citizens.
Although the official trade volume between Iran and the UAE is 12 billion dollars, the real figure –taking into account trafficked goods- will mount to 20 billion dollars, and amount not easily expendable for an economy as small as that of the United Arab Emirates. Why the Emiratis have decided to dispense with this financial advantage is truly significant. Is it a way to tell Iranians that the sheikhdom does not depend on their money and human resources anymore?
Aware of the UAE’s overt and covert agenda, the Islamic Republic of Iran should wield its ‘strategic depth’ in such a way as to remind the sheikhdom’s rulers that co-existence with an old neighbor should not be an item of trade-off with Washington. A glance at the internal conflicts between the seven emirates of the UAE shows that this ‘yoked’ federation, whose leadership has been usurped by the sheikhs of Abu Dhabi and is gradually turning into a peculiar Arab dictatorship, is vulnerable to the slightest pressures.
The risk to once long standing friendships between Iran and the sheikhs of Ra’s-ul-Khaimah, Umm-al-Quwain, Sharjah, Fujairah, and even Dubai, is a clear sign of how by demonizing Iran, Abu Dhabi has now essentially enslaved these emirates and aspires to cement its domination of them through its oil revenues.