Ties that could help everybody

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s visits to Italy and France a week ago can be viewed as a big success when measured by the multibillion-dollar business deals he reached with these two European countries.

Rouhani signed trade deals worth about $18 billion with Rome, his first stop on his European tour, and about $30 billion with Paris, including a $430 million deal with French car manufacturer Peugeot, to build a plant in Iran, and an order for 114 new Airbus planes.

Politically, these big business deals with two major European nations can also be regarded as opening new channels of communication with Europe after an about 12-year hiatus, the result of the Western-imposed sanctions.

There is little doubt that the commercial accords with Italy and France will be followed by agreements with Germany and other European countries, deals that will benefit both sides, no doubt.

So far, however, there are no signs of economic deals with the US, but sooner or later, Washington can be expected to want to benefit from the relaxation of relations with Tehran after the nuclear deal reached in July.

It is axiomatic in international relations that economic ties override other types and dictate, to a certain extent, the nature of political relations.

Iran seems now to have opened a new page in its relations with the West, but it has yet to do so with the Arab world.

So far, Tehran has been acting as a spoiler of ties with major Arab capitals by supporting and nurturing sectarian conflicts in the region.

Iran openly sided with the Damascus regime, in its war against its own people, with the Houthi militias in Yemen and has been a longtime supporter of Hizbollah, in Lebanon.

It knows that in order to be accepted by the Arab world it has to forgo sectarianism and interference in its neighbours’ affairs.

Constructive relations with the Arab capitals will benefit everybody economically, and act as a stabilising factor that could, ultimately, usher peace in this region ravaged by wars.