Security Arrangements in the Persian Gulf by Sadeghinia Mahboubeh;

Author:Sadeghinia, Mahboubeh; [Sadeghinia, Mahboubeh]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Garnet Publishing (UK) Ltd
Published: 2014-06-19T00:00:00+00:00

The impact of Iraq’s internal problems on Persian Gulf security

The Ba’th social foundations were greatly undermined by both “Desert Storm” and the sanctions imposed afterwards. These events had a huge impact on the political, military and economic aspects of Iraq and challenged the security of the PG. The Kuwait crisis caused great human loss, and along with civilian migration to other countries, including neighbouring ones, reduced Iraq’s skilled population.

Iraq looked towards its oil reserves to solve its problems and so was determined to loosen the sanctions. However, from a regional perspective, either removing or maintaining the sanctions would cause concerns among neighbouring states. To not remove the sanctions would hurt the people of Iraq and potentially force Baghdad to seek a more radical method of release. It could even lead to the gradual collapse of the government and the disintegration of state institutions. Such disintegration of Iraqi institutions would lead to cross-border activities in the whole region that would be destabilising. Iraq’s weakness was also a concern for the GCC and its Western partners as it further shifted the balance of power in Iran’s favour. However, to remove the sanctions would allow Iraq to use its oil revenues to rebuild its military power and continue on its previous destructive path, simply creating an alternative threat to the PG. Therefore, from the 1990s until the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the major challenge was how to balance the constraint on Baghdad’s rearmament with its need for economic resuscitation.

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