By IRNA,
Berlin : The Islamic Republic of Iran is indispensable for security and stability in the volatile Persian Gulf region, according to international Middle East experts who took part at the Persian Gulf conference in Berlin on Wednesday.
“It is almost impossible to tackle anything without Iran, not only in the Persian Gulf region but the Middle East,” said the director of the Regional Center for Conflict Prevention at the Jordan Institute of Diplomacy, Yasar al-Qatarneh in his speech to the confab, hosted by the conservative Berlin-based Konrad Adenauer Foundation.
“A security system (in the Persian Gulf) that cannot engage Iran, cannot be better than the current one,” the Arab scholar stressed.
He pointed to a “growing possibility” of a US-Iranian
rapprochement once US president-elect Barack Obama assumes office.
Al-Qatarneh said the US would be “well advised to talk Iran about its security concerns.”
“There is an urgent need to accommodate Iran’s security concerns,” he added.
The Middle East expert warned against western efforts to “exclude Iran from a (regional) security order.”
Al-Qatarneh’s remarks were underscored by Johannes Reissner of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) in Berlin who urged the new US administration to change what he termed the “demanding tone towards Iran.”
Meanwhile, the head of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs Volker Perthes called for creating a new security architecture for the Persian Gulf in which Iran could play a major role in launching a “regional security and stability pact.”