As the anti-Iran front begins to coalesce

As the Donald Trump administration shapes its Mideast policies, the front against Iran is becoming clearer by the day.

Last week at the 53rd Munich Security Conference, Turkey, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Iran all issued important messages.

Speaking from the rostrum, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif noted that we were transitioning to a post-Western global order. As such, Zarif claimed that the zero sum perspective and approach in security ties was no longer valid, and added that "achieving security at the expense of others' insecurity" had become an absurd proposition. Accordingly, in the interests of developing dialogue with Gulf countries, Zarif proposed the creation of a forum to be based on shared objectives.

It was clear, however, that the Iranian Foreign Minister's statement about security and stability failed to convince anyone following recent ballistic missile tests.

Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman subsequently noted that "for the first time since 1948, Arab countries viewed Iran and its proxies as the biggest threat, rather than Israel, the Jews or Zionism."

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, meanwhile, said Iran's sectarian policies in the region had severely harmed regional stability, adding that Iran was making a dangerous attempt to convert Syria and Iraq into Shiite states.

Displaying a harder line, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Bin Ahmet al-Jubeir described Iran as the "biggest supporter of terrorism," declaring that the fact that it was the only country not yet targeted by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) was "thought-provoking."

It did not go without notice that, at around the same time as the Munich conference was occurring, President Recep Tayyip...