Iran’s Navy Launches Drone Division In Indian Ocean

According to a report by the Wall Street Journal on Thursday, Benny Gantz disclosed to Biden agreements with some Arab countries with whom Israel does not have official diplomatic ties. 

Saudi Arabia had signaled its backing for the so-called Abraham Accords under which the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain forged relations with Israel built on common commercial interests and worries about Iran. But Riyadh has stopped short of formally recognizing neighboring Israel.

Saudi Arabia will allow overflights to and from Israel, in a decision welcomed by Biden who is visiting the kingdom on Friday. He called the decision an important step towards building a more integrated and stable Middle East region.

The House of Representatives on Thursday backed legislation to work on establishing a joint Middle East air-defense alliance as part of the passage of the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act.

Last Thursday, Gantz revealed that in the period since the signing of the Abraham Accords some two years ago, there have been more than 150 meetings between Israeli defense officials with their counterparts across the Middle East, not including Jordan and Egypt, in which Israeli weapons have been sold to moderate Sunni Arab countries for over $3 billion.

The United States commentariat have focused both on a possible plea to the Saudis to pump more oil to ease American gasoline prices now near $5 a gallon and on the president’s shift from shunning Saudi crown prince Mohammad bin Salman as a pariah after the 2018 murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

A summit on Saturday of the Gulf-Cooperation Council (GCC) – the six Gulf nations broadly led by Saudi Arabia – alongside Egypt, Iraq and Jorden is widely expected to recognize, and perhaps enhance, existing air-defense cooperation with Israel, under US supervision, against Iranian and Iranian-supplied missiles and drones.

Israel’s 2020 ‘normalization’ agreement with Bahrain, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates have encouraged talk of ‘friendship’ and warm relations. In Israel, Biden made great play of his regard for Zionism, making scant reference to Israeli occupation of the West Bank and none to May’s killing of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Aby Akleh.

He also said clearly for the first time that use of force against Iran remains on the table “as a last resort” to prevent Tehran to produce nuclear weapons.

‘Gigantic mistake’

But Biden also stressed in an interview with Channel 12 television his support for the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Diplomacy remained the best way to preclude Tehran from developing a weapon, Biden argued, and called predecessor Donald Trump’s taking the US out of the deal, a move backed by Israel, as a “gigantic mistake” that meant Iran was “closer to a nuclear weapon now than they were before.”

While Saudi Arabia remains open, like Israel, to further US arms supplies, there is clear skepticism in Riyadh over US intentions and a continuing reluctance to pivot too far in Washington’s direction. Analysts differ over Saudi’s practical ability to boost oil production, but even so Riyadh appears committed to the approach of the Opec+ grouping led by the Saudis alongside Russia, which agreed a modest increase in August after cutbacks at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Saudis wary, UAE rules out ‘Middle East Nato’

Saudi Arabia is wary over Biden’s commitment, following Trump, to downscale US involvement in the Middle East. Riyadh last year opened an Iraqi-mediated dialogue with Iran, from whom it broke diplomatic relations in 2016. Iraq will be the only majority-Shia and broadly Shia-led state at Friday’s GCC-plus-three summit.

The UAE is also hedging. The president’s diplomatic adviser Anwar Gagash said Friday that the Emirates did not support a confrontational approach to Iran and was working to send an ambassador to Tehran, filling the currently vacant post.

Gagash downplayed talk of a ‘Middle East Nato’ – built up from air-defense cooperation – as a “theoretical” concept. “We are open to cooperation, but not cooperation targeting any other country in the region and I specifically mention Iran,” he said. “The UAE is not going to be a party to any group of countries that sees confrontation as a direction, but we do have serious issues with Iran with its regional politics.”

In Tehran, following President Ebrahim Raisi’s warning of a “harsh” Iranian response to any “mistake” by the US and its allies, Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi mocked Biden Friday for his “sleepiness” when threatening force to halt the Iranian nuclear program. Iranian TV Friday announced Tehran’s first drone division in the Indian Ocean.

Some analysts have suggested in recent weeks that Iran stiffened its approach in JCPOA-revival talks with the US in Doha last month in part because of wariness that US mid-term elections could result in Republican Congressional majorities that would immediately undermine any agreement.

In reaction to the landmark decision of Stockholm’s District Court to sentence Hamid Nouri to life in prison, the rights group said in a Thursday statement that is "an unprecedented step towards justice.” 

His conviction and sentence “sends an unequivocal, and long overdue, message to the Iranian authorities that those responsible for crimes against humanity in Iran will not escape justice,” Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa, said.

She said the world finally witnessed an Iranian official held to account, adding that “For more than three decades, survivors and relatives of thousands of political dissidents extrajudicially killed and forcibly disappeared in Iran’s 1988 prison massacres, have struggled for truth and justice.”

Eltahawy also called on all states to exercise universal jurisdiction to criminally investigate all other former and current officials against whom there is evidence of involvement in past and ongoing crimes against humanity, including President Ebrahim Raisi, emphasizing that “This critical ruling must serve as a wake-up call to the international community to tackle the crisis of impunity that prevails in Iran.”

Sweden arrested Nouri, now 61, upon his arrival in Sweden at Stockholm Airport in 2019 and in 2021 put him on trial over the mass execution and torture of prisoners at Gohardasht Prison in July and August 1988.

However, a group of MPs used the Thursday open session attended by the prime minister to criticize him over the pact, calling it "a deal with the devil." 

New Flemish Alliance leader Peter De Roover was not dissatisfied with the postponement, saying, “Maybe there will finally be some realization that this is a devil’s pact.”

Georges Dallemagne from the Les Engagés party and Ellen Samyn from Flemish nationalist, right-wing party Vlaams Belang also expressed their dissatisfaction with the treaty once again. “Belgium’s international credibility is not much, but if this is ratified, it will sink under the ground,” said Samyn.

Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, who is also responsible for foreign affairs during Sophie Wilmès’s absence, reiterated that Belgium wants to do everything it can “not to let Belgians who are innocent abroad in prison” stay in jail.

Wilmes, who finalized her resignation as foreign minister on Thursday, quitted to take care of her husband, former Australian footballer Chris Stone, who has been diagnosed with brain cancer. Wilmes had already temporarily stepped down in April, when De Croo took over her foreign affairs duties.

Critics say that the agreement will result in sending back Assadollah Assadi, an Iranian diplomat serving a 20-year prison sentence in Belgium for planning a terror attack in Paris four years ago.

The Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) said the country's airspace was now open to all carriers that meet its requirements for overflights, in line with international conventions that say there should be no discrimination between civil aircraft.

The decision will "complement the efforts aimed at consolidating the kingdom's position as a global hub connecting three continents and to enhance international air connectivity," GACA added in a statement.

Bypassing Saudi Arabian airspace had added to flight times and increased fuel burn on some services to and from Israel.

US President Joe Biden welcomed the decision and said it was an important step towards building a more integrated and stable Middle East region.

"Today, I will be the first president of the United States to fly from Israel to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. As we mark this important moment, Saudi Arabia’s decision can help build momentum toward Israel’s further integration into the region, including with Saudi Arabia," Biden said in a statement.

Saudi Arabia, Islam's birthplace, does not recognize Israel and has said nothing of possible bilateral developments during Biden's visit. Israel has also shied from drawing such links.

Despite the absence of official ties, Saudi Arabia agreed in 2020 to allow Israel-United Arab Emirates flights to cross its territory.

Reporting by Reuters