Possible Iran-Arab naval coalition proof of greater regional confidence, rising distrust in U.S.

TEHRAN, June 6 (Xinhua) -- The possible formation of a naval coalition between Iran and several Arab states is a sign of regional countries' declining trust in the United States and growing confidence in their capabilities of ensuring regional security, said Iranian analysts and media.

Iranian Navy Commander Shahram Irani said in an interview with Iran's IRIB news agency on Friday that the country will soon form a naval alliance with several Middle Eastern nations, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Bahrain, and Iraq.

The announcement came two days after the UAE said it had pulled out of a U.S.-led maritime coalition tasked with ensuring security in the regional waters on May 31.

GROWING DISTRUST

In an analysis published on Sunday, Iran's Arabic language Al-Alam news network wrote that the recent developments send a "clear" message that the time of trusting the U.S. for guaranteeing security in the region has come to an end as the regional countries become aware of Washington's destabilizing role and plots to stoke differences among the Middle Eastern nations.

Al-Alam stressed that Washington has no other alternative but to leave the region and let the regional countries to ensure their own security.

Iranian political analyst Hassan Hanizadeh echoed the view in an interview with the Persian section of Russia's Sputnik on Monday.

Hanizadeh said the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members all have had bitter experiences of cooperation with the U.S., which explains why they no longer trust Washington for ensuring their security.

He added that the regional Arab countries have concluded that the U.S. hegemony in the region over the past decade has faced failure, evidenced by facts and figures showing the U.S. destructive role in Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq.

The Persian language Iran Newspaper said in an analysis on Tuesday that the UAE's withdrawal from the U.S.-led coalition, created nearly four years ago, is proof of the increasing differences between Washington and the regional countries, including the UAE, which have lost trust in the U.S. and intended to replace it with more reliable alternatives for ensuring their own security.

WASHINGTON'S WORRIES

In reaction to the news about the formation of the Iran-Arab naval coalition, the U.S. 5th Fleet and Combined Maritime Forces spokesperson Tim Hawkins told Breaking Defense on Saturday that the Iranian assertion about forming a naval alliance with Saudi Arabia and other regional Arab nations "defies reason."

Responding to Hawkins' remarks, Iran's semi-official Mehr news agency, in an article published on Sunday, said they are proof of Washington's grave concern over the likely formation of the naval coalition.

It added that such remarks also indicated that the U.S. has already launched bids, such as leveling "baseless" accusations against Iran, to prevent the creation of such a coalition.

Hanizadeh stressed that the Americans will, of course, try by every means to prevent the formation of the Iran-Arab coalition.

SURGING SELF-CONFIDENCE

The Iranian analysts and media analyses maintained that the regional countries have now gained greater self-confidence about their capability of guaranteeing the region's security.

In its analysis, the Al-Alam said the regional countries have realized their sole option to ensure their security is joint cooperation, a necessary precondition for which will be the withdrawal of all unjustified and transregional forces from the Middle East.

Both Al-Alam and Iran Newspaper described as a "significant breakthrough" the recent China-brokered agreement reached by Iran and Saudi Arabia on the resumption of the bilateral relations.

Hanizadeh said the Tehran-Riyadh agreement signed in Beijing in March after seven years of tensions in bilateral ties indicated that the region is moving toward greater unity and the possible formation of an Iran-Arab naval alliance would be the first step toward ousting the U.S. from West Asia.

He emphasized that greater convergence among the regional states will naturally reduce the costs they have to bear to ensure their security.