“Luigi Di Maio”, the Special Representative of the European Union for the Persian Gulf region, entrenched in Tehran since just last dusk, advanced his diplomatic engagements with two key Iranian figures: Ali Bagheri Kani, the political deputy of Iran’s foreign minister and Hossein Amirabdollahian, the foreign minister.
Di Maio, once Italy’s foreign minister, secured his appointment as the inaugural envoy of the European Union for the Persian Gulf region, a stint enduring 21 months from June 2023. This appointment illuminates the fresh European cognizance of evolving regional undercurrents in the Middle East and the Persian Gulf. Antecedent to his arrival in Tehran, Di Maio, journeyed across a number of countries in the Persian Gulf, orchestrating consultations with their senior officials.
Pondering the EU’s motivations, objectives, opportunities and the impediments within the Persian Gulf, these interactions incite speculation. Amidst the intermittent squalls in the Iran-EU relationship due to the United States’ influence, Tehran questions whether Brussels yearns to be a constructive diplomatic and security actor in the Persian Gulf or merely a regional adjunct to Washington?
Brussels’ inescapable relationship with Persian Gulf
The years of 2022 and 2023 unfurled numerous unforeseen shifts that reshaped Europe, and thus the geopolitical strategies and foreign policy of the European Union. Concurrently, the Ukrainian conflict imposed a confluence of novel security and economic quandaries upon the European Union. Equally, the Saudi-Iranian détente delivered promising effects to the Middle East and the Persian Gulf, whilst inversely, the Ukrainian crisis sent tremors through the Western world.
The failure to revive the nuclear accord with Iran, the reinstated ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia and its potential implications on the relationship between West’s allies with Tehran, the escalating tensions enveloping the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the intricate relations and escalating issues of the European Union with Turkey constitute only a fraction of the elaborate rubric of challenges presented to Brussels amidst its dealings within the Middle East and the Persian Gulf.
The spill-over effects from the Ukrainian crisis have exacerbated a ripple of crises concerning energy and grain supply and the heightened uncertainty surrounding supply chains stands to bear down further challenges upon Europe. Nevertheless, the Persian Gulf remains a potential panacea for some of Europe’s woes.
Thus, the narrative of 2023 unfolded with a profound shift within the EU’s foreign policy fabric, revealing Brussels’ strategic intention to focus greater disposition toward engagement with the Persian Gulf region, an endeavor manifested in the creation of the EU envoy post for the Persian Gulf region.
New strategies or traditional tactics?
Hitherto, engagements with the Persian Gulf countries were molded more in the frame of bilateral or multilateral interactions than institutional, even under the umbrella of the European Union. While the relation with the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council has been maintained for close to three decades, the relationship remains an embodiment of non-institutional ties. Within the economic sphere, these engagements are upheld via bilateral relations, while institutional effectiveness dwells more prominently within the political realm. Today, Brussels expresses discernible discontent with the outcomes of its longstanding policy history. An urge for reassessment surfaces, in pursuit of a new strategic framework for the region, hence the sharpened focus. As stipulated by the policy unveiled from the epicenter of European politics – Brussels, the designated representative of the European Union for the Persian Gulf embarks on the task of orchestrating political dialogues. This discourse connects the entities of the European Union to their Persian Gulf neighbors, inhabiting the spectrum of bilateral to multilateral matters and ministerial dialogues. It also pledges commitment to pioneering cooperation within the security sphere and pledges to bolster trade interaction across sectors.
From the perspective of some observers, it appears that for the European Union, the Persian Gulf could assume a pivotal role in their emerging energy stratagem. Yet, the formulation of the European Union’s foreign policy concerning the Middle East, with an emphasis on the Persian Gulf, transpires through a labyrinthine interplay of goals and multifaceted issues stemming from the evolving foreign policy of member states intermingling with the considerations and objectives of the United States. This places the European Union at the epicenter of enduring dichotomies that punctuate its foreign policy, which oscillate between allegiance to the United States and working independently of the European Union through bilateral or multilateral relations.
Brussels conundrum regarding Iran
The unfulfilled promise to revive the nuclear agreement with Iran, coupled with the enduring impact of US sanctions, poses an unavoidable hurdle for the European Union’s desire for vested interest-based interactions. Despite the agreement on the Iranian nuclear program, the Europeans find their aspirations for secured economic relations view with Iran unfulfilled.
The European Union’s lack of agency concerning concrete solutions for heated geopolitical matters, including the Iranian nuclear agreement, exemplifies the deep-rooted submissive nature of Brussels’ policy-making stance. The union’s strategies across sectors strive to scrape a delicate balance between its inherent interests and those of the United States.
As per observers, the United States’ widespread propaganda alleging the sale of Iranian drones to Russia was a ruse to further fray the ties between Tehran and Brussels. However, the European Union unwarily plunged into this meticulously laid trap. This agenda, akin to numerous Washington policies, shifts in accordance to the geopolitical whims and foreshadows potential security risks to the world, particularly Europe.
Europe possesses the potential to champion peace movements in the Persian Gulf and stabilize the volatile energy supply situation. By striving for a nuclear agreement with Iran, Europe can reap benefits that delve into the realms of security and economic stability; yet, the EU’s approach toward Iran does not display consistent policy-making. Their stance in nuclear discussions fluctuates between engagement logic and containment policy, evidenced by their recurrent projects.
Thus, Iran regards the European Union’s efforts within the Persian Gulf with suspicion, perceiving it not as an independent and positive force but as a manipulated tool of the West. The EU’s self-perception is one that works alongside the United States, managing both hard and soft security concerns to further a Western-centric regional security architecture.
Despite the European Union’s evident alignment with the United States’ stance on Iran and numerous other relations, global changes on regional and international arenas could trigger alterations in European Union’s policies and approaches to Iran. A cross-section of analysts purport that if the European Union is to elevate its standing within the global international system, it must embrace an autonomous approach within Europe and other strategically important regions, including the Persian Gulf and East Asia.
