Online Strategic Council—interview: An expert of international relations says foreign players in the East Mediterranean region are seeking to prolong Turkey-Greece conflict in order to secure their own interests and obtain excessive concessions.
Strategic Council Online – Explaining the geopolitical complexities in the Eastern Mediterranean, a faculty member said: “One of the concerns about this region, especially in Europe, is the addition of this crisis to the Middle East security crisis which due to Europe’s geographical proximity to the region, it will have negative consequences for Europe.
Strategic Council Online – The US news site Al-Monitor reported on July 30, 2020, quoting informed sources, that the Kurdish-controlled Autonomous Region of Northern and Eastern Syria has signed an agreement with the American oil company Delta Crescent Energy LLC.
Abdullah Al-Samer – Syrian Analyst
Strategic Council Online – At present, the US goal of maintaining presence in the Kurdish regions of Syria is to extract oil and gas, but the question is whether it is possible to implement this agreement and if so, how long will it continue, because the situation in the region is very sensitive and it cannot be assumed that if the Kurds dominate an area, they can use the resources and reserves there as they wish.
Reza Mirabian – Middle East Affairs Expert
Strategic Council Online – The United States, Britain, France and Saudi Arabia are now trying to create conditions to render the government of Hassan Diab ineffective through outside economic pressure and to provoke the people inside so that Lebanon’s Hezbollah too will come under pressure.
Hassan Hanizadeh – Middle East Affairs Expert
Strategic Council Online – An analyst on West Asian affairs said there were “obvious hands” among foreign countries as well as domestic political currents against the Lebanese government, adding that Hassan Diab’s government did not appear to be able to maintain the status quo and efforts are underway to overthrow his government and put the phase of confrontation with the Hezbollah on the agenda; So the next step will be very difficult for Lebanon.
Strategic Council Online – For the Westerners, any defeat and retreat of General Haftar’s forces mean the defeat of Egypt and the Arab reactionary states, which have sought to secure Western interests in Libya on a proxy basis, and now with the big defeat of Khalifa Haftar’s forces, have left the battlefield to the rival forces supported by Turkey.
Jafar Qanadbashi – African Affairs Expert
Strategic Council Online – A university professor says the reason for the US demand to hold strategic talks with Iraq is the shaky status of the American army in Iraq. “If the US troops leave Iraq or reduce their number both cases are positive,” he said.
Strategic Council Online: The new OPEC Plus agreement was reached at a time when even zero sums was experienced in the market. From this perspective OPEC Plus countries have agreed to prevent a recurrence of such a situation, but as soon as they feel the conditions in the global oil market are back to normal, they may be tempted to violate the agreement. At the same time, the conditions for increasing demand do not seem to be stable and continuous, and it is possible that corona pandemic leave its impacts on the oil market again out of the need to impose quarantine and close part of its production and service activities.
Reza Majidzadeh – Researcher in Political and Economic Development
Strategic Council Online: A West Asian affairs expert said the declaration of autonomy in southern Yemen marked the height of the conflict between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and said: “Saudi Arabia, the United States and the United Nations have come to the conclusion that since they cannot exercise their authority and hegemony over the whole of Yemen they dominate southern Yemen by implementing the partition scheme.”
Strategic Council Online: Given the agreement reached to reduce oil supply by the OPEC Plus States and the possibility of reducing the impact of the corona crisis on demand, oil prices are expected to rise in the next two to three months.
Mohammad Sadegh Jokar – Energy Expert
Strategic Council Online: An expert on Middle East affairs citing the global outbreak of the corona crisis, as well as the news on the arrest and restriction of the Saudi Crown Prince’s opponents under the pretext of quarantine, said: Bin Salman has tried to take advantage of the conditions caused by the coronavirus and eliminate his opponents. Re-adoption of conservative policies after a round of unsuccessful experience with political ambitions seems to put Saudi Arabia more focused on the economy. Accordingly, such an atmosphere could pave the way for greater engagement with Iran
Strategic Council Online: The developments occurring in Saudi Arabia in recent weeks for quantitative and qualitative reasons are considerably detached from the traditional process, based on general and current standards in the country. Meantime, some observers and analysts evaluate the situation of political trends in Saudi Arabia to be different from the previous years.
Abolghasem Delfi – Former Iranian Ambassador
Strategic Council Online: In the context of global oil demand, corona epidemic has the greatest impact on future demand, and the likelihood that global oil demand will continue to be small in the next three months is high.
Reza Majidzadeh – Developmental Political Economy Researcher
Strategic Council Online: It appears the Trump administration’s most important tactic for rising oil prices is to put pressure on Saudi Arabia to drag Russia into an output cut deal and to threaten imposition of tariffs on oil imports from Saudi Arabia.
Reza Majidzadeh – International Political Economy Researcher
Strategic Council Online: Russia’s creeping penetration in OPEC as a mate to OPEC and its non-cooperation with OPEC in its latest bid to avert further damage to member states shows that OPEC’s monopoly power in the oil market before being defeated by America’s growing power in production and extraction of Shale oil is struck by the double standards strategy and unilateralism of its members with non-member allies.
Reza Majidzadeh – Researcher in Political Economy of Development
Strategic Council Online: The double standards played by the Saudis to the effect that on the one hand, they say they do not seek tensions with Iran and on the other hand emphasize that they share the same positions with the US against Iran may indicate Riyadh’s contradictory approach to Tehran.
Davoud Ahmadzadeh – Middle East Affairs Expert
Strategic Council Online: Although the increase in the number of US troops deployed in eastern Syria cannot significantly affect major developments and the security order in the West Asian region due to its small number, but it could contribute to continuation of Syrian and Iraqi crises as well as affect the oil markets.
Dr. Hossein Ajorlou – Middle East affairs expert
Strategic Council Online: Under the current circumstances, the US will maintain a presence in Syria, in the form that it will relinquish less important regions either to Turkey or even indirectly to Russia or Damascus central government, but it will still keep sensitive centres like oil wells or strategic points that it thinks could cut off the communication lines between Iran and the Mediterranean under control.
Amir Ali Abolfateh – American Affairs Expert
Strategic Council Online: Any insecurity on the international waterways will not only disrupt the security and infrastructure of the regional countries, but will also increase the insecurity of international politics and economics due to the link between world economy and politics and the region.
Nozar Shafiei – Expert on Foreign Policy Issues
