Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Al Busaidi has called for a new security architecture for the Persian Gulf region that includes Iran, in an op-ed published in Le Monde on July 13, which is also [available](www.fm.gov.om/en/50917/) in English translation. “All eight countries"—that border the Gulf, i.e, the six GCC countries plus Iran and Iraq—"have vital national interests and significant international responsibilities—to differing degrees and with differing emphases—for the security of the Gulf they share,” Al Busaidi writes. “All eight must therefore be included in any process leading to a new security arrangement; all must contribute, participate and share responsibility.
“This means that there will have to be serious and possibly difficult conversations about the future. There are tough questions to be asked and pragmatic decisions to be deliberated upon. One essential conversation for which old assumptions will need to be set aside will concern which partnerships will genuinely help the eight Gulf states achieve the security they need, both for themselves and for the international community, and which partnerships bring unwanted vulnerabilities.
“At the very least this will require an honest appraisal of relationships with powerful friends and allies such as the United States. Not to discard these relationships—which have deep historic foundations and promise much valuable future cooperation—but perhaps to reset them to make them align better with the strategic reality the recent war has revealed. If inclusion is to replace containment [of Iran] as the core principle of regional security cooperation, what is the best and most constructive role for friends such as the United States?”
