“Our power in the region is your power and your power in the region is our power,” he said in a speech to an audience including Gulf Arab ministers and officials.
“Our growth will only pave the way for others to grow.” Gulf Arab reaction was muted. A senior official of a Gulf Arab state security service said Gulf Arabs would be concerned about Iran until it dealt “openly” with the international community over its nuclear activities.
The West suspects these activities are aimed at developing an atomic arsenal. Iran denies this, saying it is enriching uranium only for civilian nuclear energy, not atom bombs.
The Gulf Arab position reflected the concerns of the UN nuclear watchdog, not those of Washington, the senior official said.
His comments were echoed by United Arab Emirates political scientist Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, who said: “I don’t think what you heard is anything out of the ordinary.
“Iran is a very difficult neighbour and will always be so. And when it projects its power, it can be a bullying power.”
A Gulf Arab government minister said privately of Iran: “We are scared.”
Mottaki’s speech made no reference to the publication by the WikiLeaks website last week of hundreds of US embassy cables including several quoting Arab leaders as expressing strong opposition to the possibility of Iran acquiring nuclear weapons.
He said, “We must not allow Western media to tell us what we think of one another …. We have never used our potential to become powerful against any neighbours especially because our neighbours are Muslims,” he told the conference organised by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, based in London.
One notable WikiLeaks document cited Saudi King Abdullah as urging the United States to attack Iran’s nuclear installations. He was reported to have advised Washington to “cut off the head of the snake” while there was still time.
