Mitigating the cost of supporting Assad

by Gareth Smith February 11, 2013

written by Gareth Smith February 11, 2013

Ali Akbar Salehi is a shrewd man whose conduct of Iranian foreign policy since becoming foreign minister two years ago suggests diplomacy and courtesy can still exist in the region. But can it transform inauspicious circumstances? Salehi’s visit to Cairo in January — when he saw both President Mohammed Morsi and Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, grand sheikh of Al Azhar — saw him stress the need to calm Sunni-Shia tensions. Some were encouraged: after meeting Salehi, Bishop Tawadros, leader of Egypt’s 8 million Copts, praised Iran’s tolerance of Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians. Others were unimpressed. Government-aligned pens in Gulf Cooperation Council states, already scratching over the Egypt visit earlier in January of Qassem Suleimani, head of Iran’s Al Quds force, were soon scribbling fast. In Asharq Al Awsat, columnist Hamad al-Majid charged Salehi was spreading a “virus” in a “contaminated climate”. Gulf governments should reach out to Egypt’s new rulers, wrote

Gareth Smith

Gareth Smith was a distinguished journalist who reported from the Middle East for over two decades. He served as the Financial Times correspondent in Tehran, where he was the chief Iran correspondent from 2003, following his earlier role as Lebanon correspondent. Throughout his career, Smith covered Middle Eastern affairs for leading media outlets, including The Financial Times, The Guardian, and the BBC. He also contributed as an editor to Executive magazine. His work as a freelance journalist in the 1990s, focusing on the politics of Iran and Iraq, paved the way for his appointment at the FT. In 2009, he relocated to the west coast of Ireland, where he balanced freelance journalism with his passion for nature and the land.

Mitigating the cost of supporting Assad

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