Can relations between Iran and Jordan be repaired?

Hizbullah claims Jordanian authorities blocked missiles heading for West Bank, but states concerned refuse to elaborate

Micheline Hazou
Special to The Daily Star

LONDON: Both the Jordanian and Iranian governments appear to be doing their best to avoid a public row over strains in their relations that seem to have been mounting for some time, but have only recently come to public attention.
They became impossible to conceal after Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah declared on March 8 that the Jordanian authorities had detained three of his members who had been trying to smuggle Katyusha missiles into the West Bank in aid of the Palestinian intifada.
The revelation followed ? and appeared to many observers to support ? a succession of unconfirmed media reports about the Jordanian security forces having foiled repeated attempts by various Palestinian groups, allegedly sponsored by Iran, to smuggle weapons into the Occupied Territories via Jordan.
It prompted unofficial charges that the Iranians ? in an apparent drive to gain greater influence over events in Palestine ? were jeopardizing Jordan’s security and interests by using its territory for arms smuggling in violation of the kingdom’s peace treaty with Israel, and undermining the search for a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
Iranian analyst Ali Nourizadeh says the Hizbullah arms smuggling attempt first came to public attention when the Jordanian ambassador to Iran alluded in a newspaper interview to problems between Amman and Tehran due to the arrest in Jordan of three Lebanese trying to deliver arms to the West Bank.
A round of private diplomatic exchanges followed, but “both sides seem to have decided to keep it on a very low profile and not allow the incident to jeopardize their relations,” Nourizadeh told The Daily Star.
They had similarly contained the row that threatened to break out earlier, when Jordan’s King Abdullah was quoted as voicing whole-hearted agreement with President George W. Bush’s “axis of evil” speech while on a visit to Washington last month.
Tehran appeared satisfied to accept Jordanian diplomatic “clarifications” that the king had not meant to endorse America’s hostile attitude toward Iran, and to consider the matter closed.
Nourizadeh said that although both incidents were played down, they were signs of trouble in a relationship that ? with a reformist government in Tehran and a young new monarch in Amman ? had appeared in recent years to be blossoming after a prolonged period of mutual antipathy.
Nourizadeh, who edits the newsletter of the London-based Center for Arab-Iranian Studies, said a new leaf was turned by the two countries when King Abdullah assumed the throne in February 1999.
He took a conciliatory line vis-a-vis Iran, which in turn “dropped all of its animosity” toward Jordan stemming from the late King Hussein’s previous support for Iraq and his friendship with the late Shah of Iran.
The improvement in relations was apparent in many areas: from the expansion of trade and tourism links, to the establishment of a range of bilateral commissions to bolster cooperation in various areas, to a highly successful visit to Tehran by Queen Rania.
“Jordan was very optimistic about its relationship with Iran, and so confident of President Mohammad Khatami’s policy of expanding links with the Arab countries. It thought Amman would be the best place for Tehran to do that.
“The two countries formed many joint committees which were very active. Bilateral relations seemed to be on the right track,” Nourizadeh explained.
The key thing the Jordanians did to improve ties with Iran was to make their country off-limits to the Iraqi-based armed Iranian opposition group, the Mujahideen-e-Khalq.
At Tehran’s instigation, the group’s offices were closed and its members were prevented from transiting through Jordan ? virtually their only available route in and out of Iraq.
“In return,” said Nourizadeh, “Jordan expected Iran, above all, not to intervene in its internal affairs.
“Thus, the Jordanians were shocked to discover that there was a ring, connected to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and Hizbullah’s intelligence unit ? run by Imad Mughniyeh, who took the name of Abbas Noureddine ? that was bringing weapons into Jordan through Syria and smuggling them to the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
“This was something Jordan could not tolerate. At the beginning they tried to solve the problem by warning Iran privately,” and quietly expelling an Iranian diplomat they believed was involved in such activities.
“But since last year, the disclosure of these rings and the Jordanian authorities’ success in infiltrating them and arresting three Lebanese nationals, led to a sort of cooling of relations between Amman and Tehran,” Nourizadeh remarked.
He said it was obviously unacceptable to the Jordanians for Iran to smuggle weapons through their territory in an effort to establish a foothold in the West Bank.
“They couldn’t do it from Lebanon. There was no way of doing it from Syria or Egypt. The best way was via Jordan.”
Nourizadeh said available information indicated that some of the Iranian-sponsored attempts to get weapons into the Occupied Territories had succeeded, and also that Iran had supplied “a lot of cash” to Palestinian groups involved in the intifada via intermediaries in Jordan.
But he said Hizbullah’s abortive effort late last year to convey the Katyushas appeared to have been the last.
“This ring has now been stopped completely. The last time there was an attempt, it was foiled by the Jordanian authorities and the three Lebanese were arrested. I also heard that a Syrian and other nationals were arrested too,” said Nourizadeh.
“Iran doesn’t want to upset King Abdullah and the relationship with Jordan. Iran believes it needs this relationship.
“It is also very important for Tehran to block the road to the Mujahideen,” he continued, “and Amman has been very honest in its cooperation with it in that regard.”
Nourizadeh said the “surprising” failure of the Iranian media ? especially those linked to hardline elements ? to attack Jordan over the latest incident, or over King Abdullah’s purported endorsement of the “axis of evil” speech, was further evidence of that.
“It seems there is a policy which is approved by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Khatami,” he said, “not to allow the main newspapers to criticize Jordan, like they are not allowed to attack or criticize Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf states.”