Russia can help in containing the Iran war
Arab News · Dr. Abdel Aziz Aluwaisheg ·
Russia can help in containing the Iran war
The Gulf Cooperation Council-Russia Strategic Dialogue, held in Bahrain on Sunday, was an opportunity to discuss regional crises collectively after months of bilateral consultations since the last meeting in Sochi in September 2025. These discussions between Russian and GCC foreign ministers have been taking place regularly since November 2011, when this process was started. Originally focused on growing economic and cultural ties between the two sides, discussions in subsequent meetings evolved to focus on regional crises, of which there have been plenty since the inaugural meeting of the strategic dialogue was held in Abu Dhabi 15 years ago.
For several years, Syria dominated the discussions, as the two sides took opposing positions. The issue was settled in December 2024 with the departure of the Assad regime, thus removing an obstacle to progress in GCC-Russia engagement. Trade flourished, exceeding $24 billion in 2025, a jump of about 60 percent in one year and 200 percent since 2021, before the Ukraine war started. The dramatic increase in two-way trade and investment was accompanied by many high-level meetings between leaders and officials and the signing of agreements to deepen that engagement.
Then, in 2026, the US-Iran war started and the two sides took gradually diverging views toward the conflict. The Bahrain meeting was meant to narrow the gap. Russia looks at the conflict from the prism of its confrontation with the West. It blames the US for starting the war on Feb. 28, calling it an “unjustified aggression,” and thus tends to minimize Iran’s role in expanding the conflict to engulf the whole region, directly and through its proxies.
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