This is the greatest danger, ladies and gentlemen!
The six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states are akin to a sprawling tree with six branches and roots deeply embedded in the ground, spanning nearly four centuries. Throughout its history, this tree has faced numerous dangers, the most severe of which occurred in the summer of 1990 when Kuwait was occupied. This event was akin to one of the six branches being damaged. However, the survival of the trunk—the tree itself—and the unity and solidarity among its components contributed to the rapid healing of the branch and the removal of the threat.
Today, the danger is far greater and more profound than what transpired in the summer of 1990. It threatens the entire tree and all its six branches. Moreover, while the Iraqi threat at that time was counterbalanced by the dissatisfaction of the other neighbor, Iran—which had previously endured a similar invasion—today’s Iranian threat is compounded by another imminent danger: Iran’s armed proxies in Iraq, from whom harm reaches us.
To grasp the magnitude of the current Iranian threat, its philosophy, and its ultimate objectives in its blatant and unjustified encroachment on the six Gulf states, let us examine its actions in five Arab countries: Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Gaza. These nations allowed Iran to interfere in their internal affairs, despite Iran’s professed friendship with them, in stark contrast to the Gulf states, which have openly declared their hostility toward Iran. The common denominator across these countries is the devastating and overwhelming destruction inflicted upon them, sparing none of their people. The result has been flowing blood and widespread ruin, leaving not a single stone standing upon another.
Additionally, Algeria severed ties with Iran for a decade in the mid-1990s after discovering that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was supplying weapons to terrorist groups targeting Algerian civilians. Currently, it has been revealed that an Iranian-origin intermediary is supplying Iranian weapons to warring militias in Sudan. Previously, it was also uncovered that the leadership of Al-Qaeda and its representative in Iraq, the terrorist Al-Zarqawi—who bombed public markets, assassinated Iraqi officials, and incited sectarian strife—was entirely based in Iran following the fall of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. This confirms the truth that when Iran’s horse passes, no grass grows!
The final point is that our current situation closely resembles the fate of the Andalusian kingdoms after eight centuries—not four—of stability. They failed to recognize the imminent threat facing them all and continued their internal disputes. Some, including the young Prince Abdullah of the Emirate of Granada, even allied with their enemies to ward off their evil, fighting his uncle, the Emir of Malaga, for 12 years to expel him. As historians note, he later realized that his enemies had surrounded him and that he had driven away his last ally. Consequently, his kingdom was easily conquered, leading him to weep like a woman over a kingdom he failed to defend like a man. History is replete with lessons and warnings that we must heed before we become a mere byword, with others using us as an example.
