IRGC top commander says Tehran will not tolerate relations between Gulf countries, Israel ​

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The top commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Wednesday warned the Arab Gulf countries that Tehran will not tolerate the occurrence of political and security relations between them and Israel, days after officials from Israel, the US, and four Arab countries took part in a groundbreaking summit with Iran as the main topic of discussion.

“Unfortunately some of the regimes ruling the countries in the south of Persian Gulf have established political and security relations with the Zionist regime, this issue is a serious threat for the security of the region and in particular these regimes,” Commander Hossein Salami said at Abu Musa island near the Strait of Hormoz, where he paid a visit to the IRGC forces stationed in the island. ”We say emphatically and warn that these kinds of relations are not acceptable at all.” 

The threats from the commander of the IRGC against the Gulf countries and Israel came three days after the Israeli foreign minister met with the top diplomats from the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Egypt, and Morocco, along with the US secretary of State Antony Blinken vowing to boost regional cooperation, which Israel claimed would deter Iran. 

“What we are doing here is making history — building a new regional architecture based on progress, technology, religious tolerance, security, and intelligence cooperation,” Israel's Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said during the meeting. “This new architecture and shared capabilities we are building, …intimidates and deters our common enemies — first and foremost Iran and its proxies.” 

Iran is currently negotiating with the world powers, including the US, indirectly, to revive the 2015 nuclear deal but the designation of the IRGC as a terrorist organization has remained the main sticking point.

Despite the importance of the nuclear negotiations for Iran and in particular, its economy which has been struggling under crippling US sanctions, the IRGC's actions and rhetoric appear to be not in line with the Iranian positions. The Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian came under heavy fire from hardliners when he appeared in an interview with state media on Saturday, suggesting that IRGC’s interests are not aligned with the Iranian people.

The IRGC has made true on its threats and earlier in the month fired 12 ballistic missiles at Erbil on the pretext of targeting an Israeli base, which has been vehemently denied by the Kurdish officials and even invited Tehran to visit the site of the attack and inspect it.

The US-funded RadioFarda reported late Wednesday that a source close and informed about the negotiations in Vienna, which have been ongoing for almost a year, has said that the Iranian commitment to stop pursuing those behind the killing of its commander Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad in January 2020, is another sticking point and a condition for the delisting of the IRGC from the terrorist list. 

The US Treasury Department on Wednesday sanctioned a network involved in the procurement of material for the ballistic missile program of the IRGC following the recent attacks by the IRGC and its proxies across the region. 

“Today’s action follows Iran’s missile attack on Erbil, Iraq on March 13 and the Iranian enabled Houthi missile attack against a Saudi Aramco facility on March 25 as well as other missile attacks by Iranian proxies against Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and are a reminder that Iran’s development and proliferation of ballistic missiles continues to pose a serious threat to international security,” The Treasury said.

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