Israel’s ‘Nile-to-Euphrates’ plot will never materialize: Iran security chief

Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani has censured certain ‘treacherous’ Arab leaders for normalization of ties with Israel, saying such measures will fail to help Tel Aviv realize its ‘Nile-to-Euphrates’ plot.

Shamkhani made the remarks in a Monday meeting in Tehran with the former Iraqi prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, who currently leads Iraq’s State of Law Coalition.

Warning “treacherous and compromising” Arab leaders who have sacrificed the interests of the Muslim world and the Palestinian cause to achieve their ephemeral objectives, Iran’s security chief said, “The Muslim world will never allow the treacherous plot [of Israel] for the control [of Muslim territories] from the Nile to the Euphrates to be realized.”

Shamkhani was alluding to the recent steps taken by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain to normalize political and economic relations with Israel through deals mediated by the administration of US President Donald Trump.

In a tweet on Friday, Trump announced the normalization of bilateral ties between Bahrain and Israel, the second Arab state to join a deal widely censured as a betrayal of the Palestinian cause.

Bahrain has agreed to formalize the deal with Israel at a ceremony on September 15 at the White House, where the UAE would also sign off on its own thaw with the occupying regime.

Israel and the UAE agreed to a US-brokered deal to normalize relations on August 13. Under the agreement, the Tel Aviv regime has purportedly agreed to “temporarily” suspend applying its own rule to further areas in the occupied West Bank and the strategic Jordan Valley that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had pledged to annex.

The Palestinians have unanimously censured the UAE-Israel peace deal, which runs counter to a long-standing Arab consensus that any normalization of ties with Israel has to come in the context of the settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state.

They say the UAE, as an important Arab player in the region, has stabbed fellow Palestinians in the back with an agreement that does not serve the cause.

Pointing to the divisive and insecure US strategy in the region, Shamkhani underlined during the meeting that the most important priority for other countries to counter this approach was maintaining their internal cohesion and unity and to undertake common measures.

Shamkhani also touched on the ongoing situation in the neighboring Iraq, saying that the enemies of Iraq’s unity and progress seek to turn the country’s upcoming elections into a medium for fomenting discord, conflict and, ultimately, insecurity.

The top Iranian official then emphasized the need for the Iraqis to maintain vigilance and unity among all people, particularly Shia parties, groups and personalities.

During the meeting, Maliki praised the important role of the Islamic Republic in the fight against terrorism and the establishment of stability and security in the region, stressing the need for collaboration between Iran and Iraq in important regional and international issues.

“As we have eliminated terrorism from Iraq and the region via unity and resistance, we will also be able to neutralize the threats directed at the Holy Quds and the existence of Palestine through joint efforts of Muslim countries,” the Iraqi official noted.

The UAE-Israel agreement has sparked protests and condemnations from Muslim and other Arab countries, who described it as an act of treason against the Palestinians.