Vali Nasr, a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, said that conclusion of the JCPOA talks and US withdrawal from West Asia is in line with Washington’s efforts to change focus to East Asia and competition with China and Russia, adding that this would create a new system in the region in which Saudi Arabia and the UAE would seek different ties with Iran.
Professor Vali Nasr who is a renowned political thinker and analyst of international affairs made the remarks in an exclusive interview with IRNA correspondent in New York on Friday.
Nasr has served as an advisor to Barack Obama in 2008 US presidential elections and as a consultant to former United States ambassador to the United Nations Richard Holbrooke.
Asked about the talks between Iran and Saudi Arabia to normalize ties after five years of halt in diplomatic relations between the two countries, the professor said that “negotiation” is a positive step per se, but this type of normalization would take a long time because the mistrust between the two states should be overcome based on cooperation that has positive results.
Trust is not a verbal issue, as the two sides have concerns and demands that should be addressed, Nasr said, adding that normalization of ties takes places when the two sides see the positive effects of improvement in their relationship on their interests and then they can manage the region in cooperation.
This is the only way the Middle East has to look more like other regions of the world, according to Nasr who also said that other regions have system to solve their issues within the region, but the Middle East lacks both the system and an agreement to build it.
Asked whether the US supports Iran-Saudi talks only in words or there has been new development, the Johns Hopkins professor said that Washington’s stance is that Iran and Saudi Arabia reach a point that they can alleviate tensions and establish a relationship that could facilitate an agreement between them on Yemen, Syria and other places.
Negotiation is the first and foremost step, but not the last one, Nasr said, noting that there should be considerable agreements and outcomes to be able to be anchored to and let the trust grow and structures be made during this process and remain for the future.
He said that the Joe Biden administration is not willing to start a new hostility in the region, as the US has withdrawn its forces from Afghanistan and is talking about evacuating from Iraq. All this encourages Biden administration to increase diplomatic affairs more the Donald Trump era or even prior to that.
This will also encourage countries in the region to find a new framework to solve their issues, as the former regional system was based on US presence and thus any nuance in US position would lead to a change in foreign and military policy of the regional states, according to Nasr.
If the US is supposed to have a not so strong presence in the region and if it could revive the JCPOA or have a new agreement with Iran on nuclear issues that can stabilize Iran-US relations to some extent, as said by Nasr, there will be a new system in the Middle East and Saudi Arabia and the UAE will seek different regional ties with Iran.
Although the US under Biden is determined to change focus to the East Asia and competition with China and Russia, this doesn’t mean that the Middle East has lost importance or there would be no incidents to involve the US, the professor noted, adding that this, instead, means that Washington has concluded that the Middle East didn’t deserve this much of political, military and diplomatic attention.
Oil is losing significance, as Nasr said, underlining that the tensions in the Middle East remains in the region itself and this was not comparable with the significance of the competition between the US and Russia/China which determines the next superpower of the world.