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| Ambassador Moslehzadeh and the Jaafar ibn Abi Taleb Mausoleum |
The Islamic Republic of Iran, home to the world’s
largest Shiite population, took two steps forward this week to keep the
predominantly Sunnite Arab world on the back foot.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad telephoned Hamas
Movement’s prime minister in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, to acclaim “the victory of
the Resistance” in its eight-day clash with Israel.
Israel launched its air
blitz on Gaza -- which it says was aimed at ending rocket fire from Palestinian
militants -- with the killing of a Hamas military leader last week.
A total of 162 Gazans and
six Israelis were killed during the flare-up in which Gaza militants fired about
1,300 Iranian-made rockets and missiles at Israeli targets, while Israeli
warplanes launched approximately the same number of air strikes on the
Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
Gaza
watchers believe Iran proved to be a key player in the
Gaza battle. “Her Fajr-5 missile was the star of the face-off.”
Ahmadinejad
told Haniyeh Iran stands by the Palestinian people, to which the Hamas leader
replied the victory belongs to the Muslim world.
As an
Egypt-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas was taking hold on Wednesday
night, Iran made a very public overture to Jordan in what is perceived as
another move to extend its influence in the region.
Iran’s ambassador in
Amman, Dr. Mostafa Moslehzadeh, said late Wednesday Tehran is ready to supply
Jordan with oil and energy for the next 30 years in exchange for Jordanian goods
and “religious tourism” by Shiites in the kingdom.
Moslehzadeh made the
barter offer during the Fil-Sameem (“In
Essence”) program aired on Jordan's private Josat
TV channel.
His comments came after
a decision by the Jordanian government earlier this month to cut fuel subsidies
sparked mass and sometimes violent popular protests, including surprising calls
for King Abdullah II to step down.
Since the lifting of
subsidies, the price of domestic gas has risen by more than 50%. Diesel and
kerosene prices, meanwhile, have increased by a third.
Last year, Saudi Arabia
gave Jordan a last-minute $1.4 billion cash handout to keep Jordan afloat, but
it withheld aid this year, officials have said.
According to Scott Lasensky, a senior research associate at the United
States Institute for Peace’s Center for Conflict Analysis and Prevention, oil has always been an important
consideration in Jordan’s Arab relations.
“Since the 1980s, not only was Iraq one of the largest players in
Jordan’s economy, but also Saddam [Hussein] singlehandedly guaranteed most of
Jordan’s energy needs at below-market prices. Oil lay at the heart of Jordan’s
late 1990s trade boom with Iraq…
“Baghdad was a generous benefactor. Jordan now has a major stake in
either restoring or replacing that munificence. In a bid for greater influence
with Amman, Iraq sold oil to Jordan at below market prices after the UN
Oil-for-Food Program was established in Iraq; in 2000, with prices around $30 a
barrel, Jordan received Iraqi oil at $9.50 a barrel. Moreover, Iraq allowed
Jordan, a country without domestic energy resources, to pay for the subsidized
oil with consumer goods…
“Exports to Iraq reached $420 million in 2001, nearly a quarter of
Jordan’s exports.
“The system amounted to an annual grant, in real terms, of approximately
$400–600 million a year.
According to some
estimates, the benefit was even higher—$500 million to $1 billion annually.
“In the post-Saddam era, Jordan was able to secure its oil needs on-and-off
from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates…”
But the generosity of the
Gulf Arab oil-producers has waned and post-Saddam Iraq is now under Iran’s
thumb.
In its
coverage today of Moslehzadeh’s remarks, Saudi Arabia’s leading daily Asharq Alawsat says, “Observers believe
the Iranian offer was timed to coincide with the delay in Gulf aid to Jordan. Jordanian
official circles presume the aid – which Jordanian Prime Minister Abdullah
Ensour has estimated at $1 billion -- won’t be coming at all.”
Asharq Alawsat quotes its unnamed sources as
saying, “Jordan is unlikely to take up any Iranian offer. The one made [by
Moslehzadeh] is akin to a political tradeoff – oil in exchange for religious
tourism and political stands a propos the Syria crisis mirroring Iran’s.”
The Saudi daily says
there are “several ancient sites in Jordan that are important to Muslims
generally and Shiites in particular. Among the latter is the Mausoleum of Jaafar ibn
Abi Taleb, the brother of Imam Ali and the cousin and son-in-law of Prophet
Muhammad. The mausoleum is in the town of al-Mazar al-Janoubi near Karak, south
of the capital Amman.”
