Covid-19 is undoubtedly the biggest health crisis in our lifetime. Pundits around the world, but also a long list of policymakers from Washington to Abu Dhabi to Beijing, wonder about the long-term implications of this deadly pandemic. While there is plenty of speculation about how this crisis might re-balance global power dynamics, other foreign policy implications are more immediately tangible.
In the case of the Middle East, the swift support shown by the UAE towards Iran, the most affected country in the region, has been refreshing. The UAE has provided the greatest amount of aid, and the Iranian foreign ministry has vowed not to forget those who stood by its people. In fact, in this hour of crisis, new ways of thinking about the regional collective good should be welcomed and encouraged.
Hopefully, the senior leadership in Tehran will look at the Covid-19 crisis as yet another reminder that it is high time for nation-building at home and bridge-building with neighbouring states. To do that, Iran must reassess its priorities.
In early January, as the coronavirus was first making its way into Iran, Tehran’s leadership was entirely distracted by its competition with the United States for power in the Middle East. On January 3, the Americans assassinated Iran’s top general, Qassem Suleimani, outside of Baghdad International Airport. Since 2003, Suleimani had spearheaded Iran’s ambitions to export its militant Islamist ideology to places such as Iraq, Syria and Yemen. Washington did not see him just as a geopolitical foe, but a man with American blood on his hands.
What followed Suleimani’s assassination was not, however, a moment of introspection, but instinctive and deadly decisions in Tehran that brought Iran and the US to the brink of war. First, Iran retaliated by firing off a volley of ballistic missiles aimed at US military forces based in Iraq. Then, in the fog-of-war, Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards shot down a Ukrainian airliner outside Tehran. One hundred and seventy-six innocent lives were lost.
An astonished Iranian public wanted answers and reassurances but did not know who to turn to for solace. It has not come from the most senior figure in the Islamic Republic. In a speech shortly after, Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, focused not on the lives lost in the tragic shooting down of the airliner by the Revolutionary Guards, but rather how that same force had performed “gloriously”, in his words, in undertaking ballistic missile attacks against Americans in Iraq. The 176 dead from the airliner were merely collateral damage. That is the only conclusion one could take away from Khamenei’s speech. Khamenei’s priorities yet again reinforced the disconnect by the top echelon of power in Tehran from the realities and demands of ordinary Iranians.
In that same speech on January 17, Khamenei opted to deliver part of his remarks in Arabic and not in his native Persian. Reading from notes, Khamenei’s message to the Arab masses was that the United States is the source of all tensions in the Middle East. This implausible message, after all, has been the core pitch of the Islamic Republic to the Arab world – including the Gulf States – since the Iranian revolution in 1979.
But majority public opinion in the Arab World long ago gave up any illusions about the merits of militant Islamism as practiced by Tehran. Nor does the average Arab want to see Iran and the US turn their countries into battlegrounds as part of a zero-sum-game competition for power in the region.
The world will anxiously watch to see if the coronavirus crisis can become a catalyst for Iran to change course
Not everyone in the leadership in Tehran believes the authorities here can continue to disregard Iranian public opinion as far as the continuation of the costly foreign policy is concerned. There are a number of aliments afflicting Iran today, but the pain of US-imposed sanctions on the country tops the list. According to the elected President Hassan Rouhani, who is far more sensitive to public opinion than Ayatollah Khamenei, US sanctions have so far cost Iran around $200 billion. But he has not yet been willing to call out the problem by name. Tehran claims that its access to cash is so limited that, under the burden of its ongoing crisis with coronavirus, it has applied for a $5 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund. It was the first time it has done so in 60 years.
Tehran is resisting and has vowed not to succumb to what it calls American bullying, and that it will stay the course in terms of its regional ambitions. If so, this is both a missed opportunity and a grave misreading its foreign policy predicament. It does not need to look to Washington’s pressure as a reason to change course. The Iranian public and its anger against a costly foreign policy that clearly only hurts the average Iranian is what should give the Iranian authorities reason to recalibrate.
The world will anxiously watch to see if the coronavirus crisis can become a catalyst for Iran to change course. By all measures, from statements made even by some Iranian officials themselves to periodic violent protests across Iran to denounce mismanagement and misplaced priorities, the average Iranian wants the authorities to prioritise the homeland.
Ayatollah Khamenei and the generals in the Revolutionary Guards that keep the Islamic Republic in power have a choice in front of them. They will find that many Arab countries are ready to stand by to help, should Iran actively look for ways to reduce tensions across the region with the United States and her allies. But in order to get the help that Iranian society desperately needs while the virus ravages its people and institutions, Tehran will have to re-think what is truly important at this critical time.
Alex Vatanka is Director of the Iran Programme at the Middle East Institute in Washington D.C.
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UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
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Rating: 5/5
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MORE ON INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE
The biog
First Job: Abu Dhabi Department of Petroleum in 1974
Current role: Chairperson of Al Maskari Holding since 2008
Career high: Regularly cited on Forbes list of 100 most powerful Arab Businesswomen
Achievement: Helped establish Al Maskari Medical Centre in 1969 in Abu Dhabi’s Western Region
Future plan: Will now concentrate on her charitable work
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League quarter-final, second leg (first-leg score):
Manchester City (0) v Tottenham Hotspur (1), Wednesday, 11pm UAE
Match is on BeIN Sports
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Which honey takes your fancy?
Al Ghaf Honey
The Al Ghaf tree is a local desert tree which bears the harsh summers with drought and high temperatures. From the rich flowers, bees that pollinate this tree can produce delicious red colour honey in June and July each year
Sidr Honey
The Sidr tree is an evergreen tree with long and strong forked branches. The blossom from this tree is called Yabyab, which provides rich food for bees to produce honey in October and November. This honey is the most expensive, but tastiest
Samar Honey
The Samar tree trunk, leaves and blossom contains Barm which is the secret of healing. You can enjoy the best types of honey from this tree every year in May and June. It is an historical witness to the life of the Emirati nation which represents the harsh desert and mountain environments
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Secret Pigeon Service: Operation Colomba, Resistance and the Struggle to Liberate Europe
Gordon Corera, Harper Collins
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
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- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
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Engine 3.6L V6
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In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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U18 Age Group
Name: Ahmed Salam (Malaga)
Position: Right Wing
Nationality: Jordanian
Name: Yahia Iraqi (Malaga)
Position: Left Wing
Nationality: Morocco
Name: Mohammed Bouherrafa (Almeria)
Position: Centre-Midfield
Nationality: French
Name: Mohammed Rajeh (Cadiz)
Position: Striker
Nationality: Jordanian
U16 Age Group
Name: Mehdi Elkhamlichi (Malaga)
Position: Lead Striker
Nationality: Morocco
COMPANY PROFILE
● Company: Bidzi
● Started: 2024
● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid
● Based: Dubai, UAE
● Industry: M&A
● Funding size: Bootstrapped
● No of employees: Nine
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About Okadoc
Date started: Okadoc, 2018
Founder/CEO: Fodhil Benturquia
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Healthcare
Size: (employees/revenue) 40 staff; undisclosed revenues recording “double-digit” monthly growth
Funding stage: Series B fundraising round to conclude in February
Investors: Undisclosed
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Fly Etihad or Emirates from the UAE to Moscow from 2,763 return per person return including taxes.
Where to stay
Trips on the Golden Eagle Trans-Siberian cost from US$16,995 (Dh62,414) per person, based on two sharing.
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