Iran Tracker

The Gulf Cooperation Council is a regional common market with a defense planning council. The GCC has six member states: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.[1]

Nuclear:

Gulf Cooperation Council leaders have stated their support of a peaceful, diplomatic solution to Iranian-US tensions over Iran’s nuclear program. In a press release on July 11, 2008, the GCC’s Secretary General, Abdulrahman bin Hamad al Attiya, claimed that diplomacy between Iran and Western countries will resolve this disagreement.[2] He stated that Iran has the right to develop nuclear capabilities for peaceful purposes, and that the key to security in the Middle East rests on resolving current problems such as Israel’s nuclear program and its occupation of Palestinian territories.[3] Most of the Gulf States have been engaging with Iran in talks to gain assurances that its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes and have been pushing for greater transparency. GCC states largely consider regional stability to be a priority over the continuation of an Iranian nuclear program, but some member states are concerned that opposition to the nuclear program could provoke Iran.[4]  Gulf Cooperation Council member states do not have a uniform opinion concerning Iran’s nuclear program, however.[5]

Economic Relationship:

Iran has extensive trade relations with most GCC member states independently, however in September 2007, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki wrote an official letter to the GCC stating Iran’s desire to negotiate the creation of a free trade area with all Arab countries.[6] In September 2008, the Gulf Cooperation Council decided to accept an offer from Tehran to begin negotiations on a free trade agreement.[7] According to Khalaf Al Manai, Qatari Finance Ministry Undersecretary, "the [GCC] undersecretaries agreed on starting the first official round of negotiations on an FTA with Iran."[8]

Diplomatic/Military Relationship:

The Gulf Cooperation Council was formed in 1981 to respond to the regional security threat posed by the Iran-Iraq War and Iranian Islamism.[9] Between 1983 and 1987, multilateral military exercises against Iran were carried out by the member states under the code name Peninsula Shield.[10] In 2007, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad approached the GCC with proposals for a security agreement between Iran and GCC member states.[11]

In 2008, the diplomatic relationship between the GCC and Iran was strained as a result of GCC reactions to the Iranian nuclear program. In April US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice attended a GCC meeting to garner support for international attempts to halt Iranian nuclear enrichment.[12]

In September, the Council reprimanded Iran for opening offices on the disputed Tunb Islands.[13] Located in the Gulf, the Tunb Islands are claimed by the United Arab Emirates but controlled by Iran.[14] Iran’s control of the Gulf islands of Abu Mousa, and the Greater and Lesser Tunbs, widely considered by Arab states to be UAE territory, have contributed to a strain in Iranian diplomatic relations with GCC member states. [15]

Following a December 2009 summit in Kuwait, Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Abdel Rahman Al-Attiyah, said that the GCC is bound to Iran through both historical and contemporary diplomatic ties, and that "we are keen on adopting dialogue to resolve issues of dissension, particularly Iran's occupation of three United Arab Emirates' islands.”[16] Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki made similar remarks in January 2010, saying that Iran considers expanding relations with all the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council members to be a foreign policy priority.[17]