Chayanika Saxena, a research associate at the Delhi-based think tank Society for Policy Studies, made the remarks in a recent exclusive interview with IRNA.
'As far as the US President Donald Trump’s recent visit to Israel is concerned, one cannot help but assume that Jerusalem [Tel Aviv] too had a role to play – indirectly through its lobby and the “think-tank” – in the unfolding of the present crisis in the Middle East,” Saxena said.
She said that the total isolation of Qatar by a group of Arab countries under the leadership of the Saudi Arabia was “a consequence of the President [Donald] Trump’s recent visit to the Persian Gulf.
“Maybe, the President of the United States wanted to capitalize on what some of the Middle Eastern countries did by severing their diplomatic and all other ties with Qatar – after all, Saudi Arabia had disrupted its ties with Qatar in 2014 too. It is equally likely that the initiator of this diplomatic ‘isolation’ of Qatar – those sitting in Riyadh – were just waiting for the US to blink to put their plan into actions. The ‘Arab Spring’ and the relatively more radical press working out of Qatar were being seen as nuisance by Saudi Arabia for long,” the research associate noted.
Elaborating on the possible reasons for the terror attacks in Iran, she said: “The attacks on Tehran – that too on two of its most prominent and important sites – are certainly a reaction to ‘some’ thing. A clear victory of Hassan Rouhani means a lot for the Middle East, especially as his constant pursuit for better and open ties with the rest of the world would shake-up the order in the region, which till now has been based on Iran’s isolation.”
“It also needs to be noted that ISIS, ever since its defeat in Iraq, has lost a lot of its bases, and I should say credibility. It has been claiming responsibility of a lot of attacks happening across the world. It is undeniable that the ideology which moves the ISIS has informed many of these attacks, but it would be wise to take its claims around them with a pinch of salt.” She added.
Terming a military conflict in the Persian Gulf as disastrous, she said: “Turkey has already sent its troops to Qatar and is extending support to this country along with Iran. Given Qatar’s geographical location in the Middle East, its physical besiege would be an easy task, but it would be a diplomatic disaster on the whole given that Turkey – a NATO ally – and Iran have come out in Qatar’s support.”
“Also, given the current economic crisis in Saudi Arabia and the social tension it has created, it would be wise to not precipitate its diplomatic quarrel with Qatar into a military onslaught. In case it happens, it will have a major impact on (i) petro-dollars; (ii) stability of the political regimes in the Middle Eastern states and (iii) aggravate the sectarian fault-lines even more, providing ISIS and other such organizations a fertile ground for resurgence.” Saxena added.
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New Delhi, June 17, IRNA - An Indian analyst believes that the Zionist Regime could have played a role in unfolding present crises in the Middle East region including the total isolation of Qatar by the Saudi rulers and the June 7 terrorist attacks in Iran.
