Tehran’s plan to undermine Trump’s deal may involve political, religious and military means, including a push for Palestinian unity and attempts to undermine Gulf states that support the US
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei slammed the Trump administration’s peace plan as “satanic” and evil on Wednesday. “It will never bear fruit” he wrote, claiming that Jerusalem must not be “in the hands of the Jews.” Khamenei’s comments went out as his advisors scrambled to work on a full-court press against Israel and the plan, leveraging regional anger over it to Iran’s benefit. Iran may now work with Palestinian groups and seek to thwart the plan through political and military means, hoping to use the plan as a way to jump-start Iran’s stalled influence peddling operations in the Middle East.
Towards that end Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said that Iran will work throughout “West Asia” to confront the Deal of the Century. “It threatens the Islamic community,” he said. Iran refers to the Middle East as “West Asia.” While Iran’s Foreign Minister bashed the plan as a “so-called vision for peace” and a “nightmare for the region,” the foreign ministry in Tehran said that it would work with other countries in the region “at all levels to unite the Muslim world to confront the great conspiracy.”
Iran wants to make this an “Islamic” issue by emphasizing Jerusalem. A survey of Iranian media and political reactions, as well as reactions of Iran’s IRGC, illustrate this. An article at Iran’s IRNA media noted that while Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE and even Qatar may be considering normalization with Israel, that Tehran will be working with other countries to undermine the deal. Qatar is usually considered close to Iran, and the linking of Qatar and other Gulf states represents a new trend in Tehran.
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