Arabic media outlets are expressing worry that negotiations between the P5+1 and Iran will not bring a good result—not for the United States and certainly not for the Arab countries. U.S. President Barack Obama is being depicted in the Arab press as a puppet and a lover of Iranian leader Ali Khamenei. Every journalistic item about the difficulties in the negotiations is currently a source of hope for the Arabs.

Several Arabic language outlets claim the U.S., not Iran, is the one making concessions in the negotiations. They argue that Shiite Iran continues to support Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Syrian regime, the Shiite rebels in Yemen, and Palestinian terrorist organizations like Hamas, and this is not going to change in the near future.

In its main editorial today, Al-Quds Al-Arabi (Arabic link) referred to the talks in Oman and reminded readers that only this week Tehran admitted building missile factories in Syria and signed with the Russians on the construction of two new nuclear reactors. Iran’s achievements were framed as being detrimental to the Arab world.

The Iranian regime which appears to be ‘moderate’ is using its money, its weapons, its military and electronic knowledge and its Iraqi and Lebanese militias to prevent the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. It helps the continuity of the Syrian tragedy… it is funding and arming Houthi militias and pushing Yemen to an ethnic polarization and to the brink of collapse.

Both Tehran’s stance on nuclear weapons and its involvement in Middle East conflicts fuel hostility among Arabs across the region. Pro-Western Arab states, such as Saudi Arabia, are hoping for world support to restrain Iran’s regional ambitions, instead of treating the Islamic Republic as an influential power.

[Photo: Tribes of the World / flickr]