STORY SUMMARY

Iran’s role in the Middle East grows

A few months ago we pretty much hit the bottom in violence and political discord across the entire Middle East, with active wars and insurgencies and daily terrorism defining many quarters of the region.

These two are Iran-United States relations, in the context of negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 (the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany) over Iran’s nuclear industry and Western sanctions on Iran; and relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Iran is the pivot of these two political dynamics that move together for the most part, and have one important thing in common: Saudi-Iranian and Iranian-Western tensions largely are houses of cards that are not anchored in real, tangible threats.

If common sense and non-racist standards of legal compliance are followed, it remains inevitable that Iran would work out its differences with the P5+1 powers and Saudi-Iranian relations would return to normal.

If, as I hope, Iranian-Western and Iranian-Saudi relations shift from confrontation to peaceful coexistence and then active cooperation, they will impact heavily and positively on conditions throughout the Arab region.

Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Opinion/Columnist/2014/May-17/256733-irans-role-in-the-middle-east-grows.ashx#ixzz31xAkxkGX
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)