Saudi Arabia is pushing for a non-aggression pact between Gulf countries and Iran as part of efforts to stabilise the region following the damaging US-Israeli war on the country, The Financial Times reported on Thursday, citing Arab and Western diplomats.
Gulf states were caught in the crossfire of the six-week conflict after Iran launched attacks across the region and locked down traffic through the vital Strait of Hormuz .
Regional capitals are now concerned that the war will leave a more hawkish leadership in power in Tehran that, while weakened, would continue to pose a threat to its neighbours.
Officials in Riyadh are looking to Europe's détente with the Soviet Union in the 1970s as a potential roadmap to ease regional tensions, two Western diplomats said.
The idea has attracted support from many European countries and EU institutions, which are urging other Gulf capitals to back it. The view in Europe is that a process modelled on the 1975 Helsinki Accords is the best way to prevent future conflict and reassure Tehran it would not face further attacks, the diplomats said.
The accords were a series of agreements between the US, the USSR, and their respective European allies that improved security and economic relations between the two opposing Cold War camps.
An Arab diplomat said most Arab and Muslim states in the region would embrace a non-aggression pact but downplayed its chances of success without an understanding between Iran and Israel.
"It all depends who is in it - in the current climate you are not going to be able to get Iran and Israel … without Israel it could be counter-productive because after Iran, they are seen as the biggest source of conflict," the diplomat said. "But Iran is not going anywhere and this is why the Saudis are pushing it."
Divisions among Arab and Muslim countries also present an obstacle to securing a regional pact. The emerging rivalry between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates has put the two most powerful Gulf countries on opposite sides of a growing number of issues, including over the region's post-war relationship with Tehran.
The UAE and Bahrain have taken a hard line against Iran. Abu Dhabi has doubled down on its ties with Israel , making it almost alone among Arab and Muslim states which now consider Iran a bigger threat than Israel.
Two of the diplomats expressed doubts about whether the UAE would sign up to any agreement with Iran.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia and other countries have backed Pakistan's efforts to broker a peace agreement between Iran and the US. Riyadh and Pakistan – which signed a mutual defence agreement in September – have strengthened ties with Turkey and Egypt. The four countries have held discussions about entering a formal military alliance.
Pakistan is proposing that Qatar and Turkey join the defence pact to form an "economic and defence alliance", the country's defence minister said on Monday.