Iraq proposes new 6+2 Gulf security framework 

Despite several senior Iraqi officials in Baghdad repeatedly promoting the vision of “joint Gulf security” in recent weeks, there has been no response from outside Iraq.

The vision, known as 6+2 and referring to the six Gulf Cooperation Council states alongside Iraq and Iran, was unveiled by Iraqi government security adviser Qasim Al-Araji last week. The plan calls for a Gulf security system based on “respect for the sovereignty of states”.

He said the 6+2 initiative aims to “address the crisis of confidence” between the Arab Gulf states and Iran, without providing further details about its content.

In remarks carried by Iraqi state television, he said: “From this standpoint, Iraq affirms its responsibility to consolidate state sovereignty and the independence of its decisions, place weapons and decisions on war and peace in its hands, prevent its territory from being used to threaten neighbouring countries, and pursue a balanced foreign policy that contributes to de-escalation and the containment of crises.”

The Iraqi government has not officially adopted the initiative, nor has it issued a document outlining its provisions.

Political sources in Baghdad said it was proposed last month at a meeting of the ruling Coordination Framework coalition at the beginning of August, attended by Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaidi, as an Iraqi initiative to establish security understandings with the Gulf states and Iran.

However, a key problem with the initiative may explain the lack of response.

It focuses on the commitment of the eight states bordering the Arabian Gulf not to use their territory to attack other countries. This corresponds with the Iranian narrative repeatedly used after each attack on the Arab Gulf states: that Iran does not target the Gulf states but rather US bases located in their territory and used to attack Iran.

The Gulf states, as well as Jordan, naturally reject this claim, while Tehran has provided no evidence for its allegations.

A senior Iraqi parliamentarian in Baghdad from the Reconstruction and Development bloc, one of the components of the ruling Coordination Framework coalition, said the Iraqi initiative is based on the principle of neutrality in the current war against Iran, which the United States has been waging against it for many months, according to him.

He revealed that the initiative has been accepted by leaders of the ruling coalition but naturally “lacks a guarantor” to make any agreement sustainable and ensure compliance with it, particularly by the Iranians.

The lawmaker, who asked not to be named, added that the Iraqi initiative or vision had received no response from the six Gulf states.

However, Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf welcomed any initiative aimed at easing the current tensions.

On Wednesday, Al-Araji returned to present the same initiative, saying that “6+2 Gulf security”, which includes Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman, alongside Iraq and Iran, is based on the principle of “not using the territory of any state to threaten neighbouring states”.

He stressed that his country is capable of “preventing Iraqi territory from being used as a launching point for attacks against neighbouring countries”.

Through the initiative, Baghdad aims to once again present Iraq as a bridge for dialogue between Iran and the Gulf states, according to Iraqi security affairs expert Ahmed Al-Nuaimi.

He explained that the initiative was presented through communication channels between Iraq and several Gulf states but did not receive the expected response.

He attributed this to several reasons, most notably that the initiative is based on the principle of states not attacking one another from their own territory.

Gulf states consider this a misleading Iranian narrative designed to cover up repeated attacks against them under the pretext of targeting US bases.

Iranian attacks have hit ports, airports, oil facilities and even civilian sites in the Gulf states, resulting in deaths and injuries, and were not limited to those bases.

Iraq itself has also become a launch point for attacks carried out by armed groups allied with Iran.

However, Al-Nuaimi pointed out that the most important aspect of this vision, which appears to be supported by figures allied with Iran inside Iraq, is that it is a political position directed against the United States.

None of the Gulf states wants to depart from their relatively stable position in this war, which is to remain on the sidelines and avoid being drawn into the war or aligning with either side.

What Iraq has announced so far remains unclear.

No official document containing the initiative’s points or principles has been disclosed, and the Foreign Ministry has yet to take any action on it, according to Kurdish Iraqi politician Ali Shankali.

Shankali told The New Arab that Iraq itself still faces problems transporting its oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, as well as repeated attacks on Erbil and Sulaymaniyah carried out by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps from time to time against US interests or Kurdish groups opposed to Tehran.

Iran is also strengthening the position of Iraqi armed factions that refuse to cooperate with the Iraqi state in handing over their weapons, making any initiatives, even if other countries take an interest in them, “unlikely to be guaranteed in implementation”.

This is not the first time Iraq has proposed the same initiative.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said in late June that his country had proposed holding an eight-party meeting bringing together the Gulf Cooperation Council states, Iraq and Iran to discuss security in the Gulf region.

Hussein said at a joint press conference with his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi, in Baghdad that “the security of the region should be the responsibility of its states, and different frameworks could be established to protect those states”.

He affirmed Iraq’s readiness to host such a meeting to discuss the issue, as well as economic relations between the countries of the region.

The Iranian foreign minister welcomed the Iraqi proposal at the press conference, saying, “The issue of security in the Gulf region should be reconsidered, and a new framework should be established that includes all the countries of the region without interference from any country from outside it.”

Former Iraqi parliamentarian Mohammed Al-Daraji said that many visions and initiatives had been proposed recently within the Iraqi political scene, but they did not go beyond being matters for domestic discussion and had no bearing on the conflict or the political and security calculations in the region.

Al-Daraji explained that Iraq’s ability to play any positive security role in the region would remain “dependent on the government’s ability to control armed groups and prevent them from using Iraqi territory to target other countries, such as Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Kuwait”.

He said the absence of a Gulf position on the Iraqi vision may be because it had not formally reached them or because they see it as an attempt to make them party to a crisis at a time when they are in fact parties adversely affected by the war in terms of security, economics and politics and were not responsible for it.

Article translated from Arabic by Afrah Almatwari. To read the original, click here.