An Arab Nato.

Today, countries are signing pacts and treaties for security, political and economic gools. The world powers like the US, Russia and China are making alliances to contain each other. It is a game of national interest for every country, for instance the US is pressurizing the Arab countries and other Muslim countries to recognize Israel. In the past, the Middle East has seen treaties like the Baghdad pact (CENTO) and SEATO. The oldest organization in the Middle East is the Arab League which was founded in 1945. The organization has 22 Arab States as its members with a population of 400 million. However, the organization has failed to meet expectations because of disputes among members and civil wars.

Today in the Middle East, the US is gradually pulling out of its role as security guarantor to Arab countries. Similarly, the Arab countries have now realized that they cannot rely on the guarantees of the US and West. It is likely that the US will not come to their rescue and aid in case of a military confrontation with Iran as it did not come to the rescue of Ukraine. The US and Saudi Arabia proposed a Middle East Security Alliance (MESA) in 2017 while Trump was in office. The alliance included GCC countries, Egypt, Jordan and the US. This was built to counter Iran without the intervention any foreign power.

On 24 June 2022, King Abdullah of Jordan while speaking to an American channel said that he would support a Middle Eastern alliance similar to that of NATO. The idea of an Arab NATO has been discussed in the past too by the US to counter the increasing threat to the region from Iran. The existing defense mechanism in the Middle East is not that powerful and Arab states think they need such an alliance to not succumb to Iranian power. The alliance will likely cooperate on missile defense, sharing of intelligence, military cooperation, counter terrorism and also in improving diplomatic and economic ties among member countries.

Let us analyze the threat to Arab states and Israel from Iran. Israel believes Iran is attempting to encircle it from Syria and Lebanon. Russia is controlling Syria and supporting the civil war along with Iran and Hezbollah. Then there is alliance of Iran with Iraq and Syria to control Lebanon. The Arabs too consider Iran a threat to their sovereignty. In Yemen, Houthis are...