US Prepares for Iran Nuclear Deal

• 05.19.2015, 19:30
• Liana Hovhannisyan
•  America,  Near East,  World

The recent meeting of Obama with the representatives of Gulf States became a topic of wide discussion in the international media. The major questions that were raised referred to the Obama’s real motive to invite the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) at this period of time, when the deadline for the Iran nuclear agreement is very close, June 30. First of all if we refer to the overt goals Obama pursued during the meeting, the two major goals are to be indentified: to assure the US "ironical commitment" to the Sunni governments of the Gulf States and to get their endorsement to continue negotiations. If we consequently raised a question whether Obama managed to fulfill these two goals then it would be difficult to give positive answer.

To provide basis for such kind of reasoning it is enough just to state that the meeting was mocked as "no-show summit" and there are two major reasons for it: firstly only two of six GCC members (Qatar and Kuwait) were represented by the heads of their states in the summit that was supposed to comprise of  top-level delegation from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, and secondly Gulf States had to leave the summit with empty hands, not getting a formal treaty guaranteeing the security promises, they initially aimed at (the fact which proves that Obama continues to be ignorant to directly participate in Middle East chaos and is unwilling to sell more-advanced jet fighter, the F-35, thus making his long term ally Israel angry).

However the picture would be incomplete if we do not refer to the covert goals Obama pursued during the GCC Summit. In his statement that followed the summit Obama used key thesis that is worth attention. Obama underlined that he shared the concern according to which even if the nuclear issue effectively is dealt, the problem with some of Iran’s "destabilizing" activities is not going to be overcome. By this particular emphasis Obama wanted to secure the US from being blamed for any potential conflict the states in the Middle East will have with Iran in the future. Second, Obama delivered a clear message to Iran, which can be formulated in the following way: "nuclear deal does not mean "green light" for you to act in the region as you please". In this sense it was not by chance that after it the thesis began to circulate in the Iranian media according to which even if Iran and the West are going to reach a nuclear agreement, the relation between the US and Iran are not going to improve soon.

To conclude it should be stated that Obama’s both covert and overt motives to organize GCC can be characterized as "preventive" measures aimed  at nullifying or at least minimizing  possible negative consequences the Iran nuclear deal can have. In other words the summit was a kind of preparatory work for the final nuclear agreement that is inevitable to happen.