With US distracted by Russia’s Ukraine war and China, economics and an emboldened Iran drive Middle East powers to redraw alliances

As US interest in the region wanes, old foes are mending fences to prevent Tehran from filling the void – and to safeguard economies from the renewable revolution

Fearing an Iran emboldened by a revived nuclear deal, US allies are refusing to join the alliance against Moscow and have rolled out the red carpet for Syria’s Bashar al-Assad

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A gas flare on an oil production platform in the Soroush oil fields alongside an Iranian flag in the Gulf. Photo: Reuters

Published: 8:00pm, 27 Mar 2022

The Russia-Ukraine war has intensified efforts by the Middle East’s competing powers to arrive at a detente with each other and common rival Iran as the United States’ interest in the region wanes.

The blunt refusal of all of Washington’s allies in the Middle East to join the Western diplomatic alliance against Moscow reflects their urgent need to prevent Iran from filling the geopolitical space being vacated by the US, analysts said.

With Tehran on the threshold of reaching an agreement with the West in Vienna to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, America’s allies in the Middle East are deeply concerned that the prospective lifting of many economic sanctions would embolden Iran.

These concerns will take centrestage at an unprecedented Israel-hosted conference on Sunday, with the foreign ministers of Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in attendance.

It was preceded on Saturday by an informal meeting in Jordan between King Hussein, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan of the UAE, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi and Saudi cabinet minister Prince Mohammed bin Fahd bin Abdulaziz.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its allies in Iraq, Syria and Yemen have targeted Tehran’s rivals with ballistic missiles and explosives-laden drones.