On Abraham Accords anniversary, Iran pushes Gulf ties - analysis

Iran has a new Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Majid Takht Ravanchi. He is pushing for closer ties with the Gulf countries, according to Iranian state media. This push comes on the four year anniversary of the Abraham Accords. The Accords were signed in Washington on September 15. They led to peace between Israel and Bahrain and Israel and the United Arab Emirates. In December of 2020, Morocco also signed a normalization agreement of ties with Israel.

Iran has always opposed the Abraham Accords. It especially does not want Israel’s ties with Bahrain and it is concerned about Israel increasing any kind of agreements in the Gulf. For instance Iran sought to derail any expansion of the Accords to Oman and it does not want Israel-Saudi normalization.

The October 7 attack by Hamas was likely part of Iran’s response. Iran backed the attack. Hamas leaders are hosted in Qatar. Doha did not join the Accords, despite being a close US non-NATO ally. It is worth recalling that back in 2017 Saudi Arabia led the UAE, Bahrain and other countries to cut ties with Doha. Although there was reconciliation, it's possible that Doha was pleased to get back at the other Gulf states for the 2017 crisis.

Therefore, Hamas can be seen as a tool of a variety of enemies of normalization. For instance, Ankara withdraw its ambassador to the US and Israel over the US decision to move the embassy to Jerusalem in 2018. Ankara also tried to derail the Accords. READ MORE