The US-Saudi Relations Information Service (SUSRIS) has two pieces that might be of interest. Both are concerned with Saudi (and other Arab) attitudes toward the chaotic elections in Iran.
Quiet in the Kingdom, Reacting to Turmoil in Iran
A Conversation with Jon AltermanAs the post-presidential election strife and government crackdown in Iran continue through a second week we took a look at the reaction to and impact of the turmoil on Saudi and American interests in the Gulf. We turned to Dr. Jon Alterman, Director of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. for his perspectives. Here for your consideration is the SUSRIS exclusive interview conducted by phone with Dr. Alterman on June 23, 2009. We invite your attention to the comprehensive bank of links covering US-Saudi-Iranian issues that follows the interview.
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A more pan-Arabic is provided in this piece by Gamal A. G. Soltan, a senior research fellow in Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo:
Iran is in crisis; so is the Middle East
Gamal A. G. SoltanFor months, major regional and international actors were waiting for the conclusion of Iran’s presidential elections. The prevalent feeling was that a new beginning in Middle East politics should follow those elections. US President Barack Obama’s overture toward Iran was thought to be effective in bringing about changes in Iranian foreign policy. Even many of those who had doubts about the usefulness of Obama’s initiative thought it should at least be tested before being discarded. Thus both believers and skeptics were looking forward to the conclusion of Iran’s presidential election campaign so that Obama’s Iran and Middle East policy could be assessed.
While interested parties were getting ready to deal with either a radical Iran under the renewed leadership of Mahmoud Ahmadinezhad or a moderate Iran under the leadership of one of the reformist candidates, it seems that now we have to deal with an unstable Iran, a scenario that was never seriously contemplated. While attempts to reconcile the Iranian political factions have not yet been abandoned, developments indicate that a break between the two main factions is the likely outcome of the current crisis. Coexistence between conservatives and reformists in Iran’s politics is finally coming to an end. The Iranian regime that is likely to take shape in the aftermath of the current crisis will be a narrow-based conservative regime. Reformists are likely to be turned into a permanent opposition in Iranian politics that seeks the transformation rather than the reform of the regime of the Islamic Republic.
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