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The story: The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has agreed to step up military coordination among its six members. The decision signals the nascent alliance’s commitment to collective security amid mounting fears that the ongoing Iran-Iraq War could spill into the Arabian Peninsula. The move towards Gulf Arab coordination came at the end of the new bloc’s third summit, held in Manama. Bahrain’s role as host carries important symbolism, as the island nation last year foiled a coup attempt by the Islamic Front for the Liberation of Bahrain, a group with reported ties to Tehran.

The coverage: The third GCC summit was held in Manama on Nov. 9–11, 1982. Member states committed to adopting measures “aimed at building their own strength” at a time when the region is in turmoil.

  • The summit was attended by Bahrain’s Emir Sheikh Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa, Kuwait’s Emir Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Oman’s Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said, Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad Al Thani, Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and President Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

  • The six leaders also agreed to set up the Gulf Investment Corporation, with capital of 2.1B USD, to fund joint development projects.

The Supreme Council, the GCC’s highest authority, approved recommendations drawn up by the bloc’s defense ministers over the past year to jointly deter outside aggression.

  • The final statement says the recommendations are “aimed at building the member states’ own strength and coordinating among them, so that the region’s states rely on themselves to protect their security and preserve their stability.”

  • The leaders in attendance put off a decision on a comprehensive security agreement, accepting a request from their interior ministers, who met in Riyadh on Oct. 17, for more time to complete their studies.

Regional security dominated the communique issued at the end of the three-day summit, in which the six states took a unified stance on the conflicts in the region.

  • On the Arab-Israeli conflict, Gulf Arab leaders called for “Israel’s withdrawal from all the occupied Arab territories, including Holy Jerusalem, and the removal of all the Zionist settlements that have been established and are being established on the occupied Arab territories.”

GCC leaders also voiced alarm at Iran’s advance into Iraq, after Tehran’s initial setbacks in the face of the Iraqi invasion in Sept. 1980. Iranian forces have reportedly pushed as far as ten kilometers (six miles) into Iraqi territory.

  • Referring to the Iranian offensive, the communique says the GCC Supreme Council discussed the war “with grave concern” and that “Iran’s trespassing over its borders with Iraq endangered the safety of the Arab nation and also threatened its security and sovereignty.”

  • The GCC affirmed its support for Iraq’s efforts to end the war by peaceful means, and urged Iran to respond to mediation by the non-aligned countries, the Organization of the Islamic Conference and the UN.


On the day the summit opened, Iranian President Ali Khamenei told foreign journalists in Tehran that the war will not end until his Iraqi counterpart, Saddam Hussein, is removed from office.

  • Tehran views the GCC as a pro-western alliance. This is while the bloc insists on its political non-alignment, though there are growing reports of military ties forming between its members and the United States.

The context/analysis: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE founded the GCC as a political and economic alliance in May last year.

  • The bloc’s charter states that the aim is “to effect coordination, integration and interconnection between member states…to achieve unity between them.”

  • The founding document designates the Saudi capital Riyadh as the GCC’s headquarters.

Although its charter does not explicitly spell it out, Gulf Arab monarchies have been frightened by the 1979 downfall of Iranian Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and the subsequent war between Iraq and Iran.

  • At the GCC’s first summit, held in Abu Dhabi last year, regional security and economic prosperity topped the agenda. Leaders affirmed their political non-alignment and rejected foreign intervention in the region, while discussing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the threats posed by the ongoing war next door.

GCC member states are divided in their positions on the conflict between Iran and Iraq. Officially, the bloc calls for a peaceful settlement.

  • Oman officially maintains neutrality whereas the UAE is internally split, with Abu Dhabi tilting towards Baghdad as the emirate of Dubai maintains trade with Tehran.

  • Individual GCC member states such as Kuwait and Saudi Arabia almost immediately backed the invasion of Iran, and have provided large-scale loans and logistical support to help Iraq sustain its war effort and maintain oil exports. The scale of the financial assistance so far has been estimated at 30B USD.

  • As fighting has shut down Iraq’s highly limited Gulf ports, Jordan and Kuwait have opened their facilities to Baghdad—including for the maritime import of military goods.

Fears that sympathy for Iran’s Islamic Revolution could spread to the Arabian Peninsula gained greater urgency last December, when authorities in Manama foiled a coup attempt by the allegedly Tehran-backed Islamic Front for the Liberation of Bahrain.

  • Observers say Bahrain’s Shiite-majority population is susceptible to Iranian attempts at infiltration. The thwarted coup in Bahrain has sent alarm bells ringing among the Gulf Arab monarchies. Notably, Saudi Arabia’s oil-rich Eastern Province is also home to a sizable Shiite community.

  • GCC defense ministers began meeting the month after the coup attempt in Bahrain to devise a strategy for closer defense cooperation. Meetings in Riyadh in January and again in October this year form the basis of what has been announced at the bloc’s recent third summit in Manama.

The future: Although the GCC has not made any announcement about the creation of a joint military force, observers say that prospect is highly likely. Where such a force may be based and which capabilities it may be endowed are, however, unclear.

  • Several GCC states have been forging closer defense ties with the US amid the Iran-Iraq War. A joint Gulf Arab force could invite reliance on American arms and military trainers—a prospect some fear may compromise the bloc’s non-aligned position.

While united in calling for a peaceful end to the Iran-Iraq War and in opposing what they consider the “growing Zionist aggression,” GCC members diverge on ties with the Soviet Union and the US.

  • Time magazine reports that Bahrain, Oman and Saudi Arabia are closer to the United States, and are considering closer military cooperation with Washington.

  • On the other hand, Kuwait continues to be the only GCC member to maintain diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union, further muddling the waters in terms of the bloc’s non-alignment.

  • Though mutually aligned against Iran, the GCC and the US hold fundamentally opposing views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It is unclear whether this will remain a point of contention in bilateral relationships.

There has been significant skepticism about the GCC’s ability to forge a unified approach and to endure. For now, the threats posed by the Iran-Iraq War appear to have united the young alliance.

  • The question is how any potential joint Gulf Arab force might operate and react, and whether it can provide a meaningful defense in the event of an attack on the Arabian Peninsula.

  • It is also unclear what a US military presence would mean for GCC states caught in the rising enmity between America and Iran. Some observers charge that closer ties with Washington may bring greater protection from Iranian attack, while others argue that it may invite aggression from Tehran and exposure to crossfire.