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The Unlikely Middle Eastern Alliance

And Trump is not the only leader that is rethinking its foreign policies.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the President of Turkey, was in Iran very recently. He and Hassan Rouhani, the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, released a joint statement advising that their two countries and Iraq will be working together “to ensure that political boundaries of the region would not change by any means”.

Only a day after the statement was made, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry in Iraq said that the government has informed Turkey and Iran that they should order their forces to Iraqi borders and to ensure that all trade deals with the Kurds are ended.

There is so much unease in Iraq that it is looking to Turkey and Iran to pressure the Kurds. Over the past few years there have been tensions between the three countries, so it comes as a surprise to see them working together.

Turkey and Iraq in particular have been involved in political disputes like in 2015 when there was tension regarding the deployment of Turkish troops in Iraq before approval was granted.

Iran and Turkey, despite not having any overt political disagreements, are both looking for domination in the Middle East and have very differing longstanding interests there. The most obvious difference is with regards to Syria where they support opposing sides – Iran supports the Syrian President Bashar al Assad, whereas Turkey is trying to topple him.

Since the coup d’état against Saddam Hussein, the former President of Iraq, Iran and Iraq have a close Shiite connection. However, it must be noted that there is a deeply rooted resentment and bitterness between Persians and Arabs that goes back a long way and it explains why Iraq wanted rapprochement with Saudi Arabia after Kuwait was annexed by Iraq.

Iraq was once very powerful in the region but it is now extremely weak following sectarian conflict and numerous Iranian interventions.

Following the referendum in Kurdistan, Turkey is worried that letting Iraqi Kurds declare independence could encourage others in the region to do so.

And with the United States threatening to pull out of the nuclear deal, Iran is also in a bad situation because it could spell the start of more crippling economic sanctions. The second big issue for Iran is the Kurds in Iran if they decide to hold a referendum.

Will an Iran-Turkey alliance work? It is doubtful, especially in the long-run that it will work. Turkey is taking preventive measures in Syria against the Kurds. The US is supporting the Kurds. And Iran is trying to prevent any Kurd movement at home. So Turkey and Iran are not ready to deal with a Kurdish movement.

Iran is also being pressured by the US which will be reviewing the nuclear deal and Trump has said that Iran is responsible for chaos in the region. It looks like Iran will be the reason for the eventual unravelling of this partnership because of the pressure it is under.

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