Azerbaijan, Baku, 11 March / Trend corr D. Khatinoglu, R. Hafizoglu/ Iran's nuclear program may have played a role in the restoration of diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Qatar. "The Persian Gulf's countries fear the development of Iran's nuclear technologies," the Iraqi political scientist Riyad al-Gayim told Trend .
Al-Jazzeera TV reported on 10 March that officials of Saudi Arabia and Qatar are restoring diplomatic relations which were frozen six years ago. The cause of restoration is anxiety about Iran's nuclear technologies.
"By Iran ignoring the IAEA resolution and continuation of its nuclear program makes Iran's neighbouring countries take security measures," the political scientist said by e-mail from Baghdad on 11 March.
According to al-Gayim, development of the nuclear program may undermine stability in Gulf countries, as well as promote intensive armament.
An official representative from Qatar's Al-Raye newspaper, who preferred to remain anonymous, said that restoration of relations between Saudi Arabia and Qatar was caused by their anxiety of Iran's influence upon the region. " Iran has the opportunities to exert impact on several factors in the Gulf and other Arab countries," he told Trend in a telephone conversation from Doha on 11 March.
According to the Al-Raye representative, official Doha is anxious that Iran will use the Shiite factor in the country and will intervene it. "Mass riots which happened in Qatar several months ago showed that by Iran supporting Qatar's Shiite opposition they want to cause political confrontation in the country," he said.
The revival of relations between Doha and Ar-Riyad cannot be considered a coalition against Iran, the political scientist said. "By reviving relations, both parties want to lessen the influence of Iran in the region," he said. According to the expert, though the numbers of Shiite Muslims in the Persian Gulf have artificially decreased (in statistical data), the existence of the Shiite factor in the region cannot be denied. Qatar is one of the Persian Gulf countries where Shiite Muslims make up the majority.
One of the disputes between the Shiite and Sunnis is connected to the demand to give caliphate not to the first caliph Abu Bakr after the death of the Prophet Mohammad in 632, but to the nephew and son-in-law of the Prophet Imam Ali.
Abulfaz-Aziz Al-Mahmoud, the director of the newspaper Al-Arab published in Qatar, said in his interview with Al-Jazzeera TV that the revival of relations between the two countries is a step made out of fear of development of nuclear technologies in Iran and its growing influence in the region.
The London-based Iranian political scientist Ali Reza Nourizade said that Qatar's restoring diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia is inevitable to the development of its foreign policy. " Qatar supported official Tehran in the Iran-Iraq war. Iran did not oppose the diplomatic relations of Qatar with Israel at all," Nourizade said to Trend from London by telephone on 11 March.
The revival of relations between the two Gulf countries is not based on the Iranian issue, he said. "The fact that Saudi Arabia hindered the development of Qatar's foreign policy is attributed to propaganda in the Qatar mass media against the Saudi Arabian government," the Iranian expert said.
The Premier of Qatar Hamid bin Jasim said to journalists in Doha that Arabic countries must hold transparent talks with Iran to prevent a new war from erupting in the region.