GCC official says Russia could restrain Iran from attacking its neighbours

Abdel Aziz Aluwaisheg, the Gulf Cooperation Council's Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs and Negotiation, calls on Russia to help contain the Iran war in a column published in Arab News on 21 October. The author's note says the piece reflects his own views, not those of the GCC. His starting point is the latest GCC–Russia Strategic Dialogue meeting in Bahrain, a format launched in November 2011. According to Aluwaisheg, GCC–Russia trade exceeded $24 billion in 2025, up roughly 60% in a year.

In the author's view, the two sides read the war very differently. In the US–Iran war that began on 28 February 2026, Russia blames Washington and plays down Iran's widening of the conflict through direct strikes and proxies. Aluwaisheg recalls that Russia abstained in March on UN Security Council Resolution 2817, which demanded that Iran halt its attacks on GCC states. He writes that Russia blocked a GCC draft focused on freedom of navigation in April 2026. Since then, he argues, the Council has been paralysed on Hormuz.

The author finds the Gulf security architecture that Lavrov restated in Tehran "even more fanciful" after 28 February, because Iran has exhausted trust by closing Hormuz and launching thousands of attacks. Aluwaisheg sets out 4 demands. Any security arrangement should wait until trust is rebuilt, and Russia should secure a commitment from Tehran to stop the attacks. Iran should restore the pre-war regime in Hormuz and rein in its proxies in Iraq and Yemen. He says half of the attacks on GCC states since 28 February were launched from Iraq.