TEHRAN - Shireen Tahmaasb Hunter, a professor of political science at Georgetown University, says that the idea of establishing a NATO-like alliance in the Arab world is unrealistic.

“Nothing remotely resembling NATO could be established in the Arab world,” Hunter tells the Tehran Times.

 “However,” she adds, “more formal and structured defense cooperation among some Arab states and potentially Israel is not beyond the realm of possibility.”

President Joe Biden’s trip to West Asia on July 13-16 raised questions about the possibility of creating defense cooperation between Arab states and Israel to counter Iran. Nevertheless, some Arab countries like the United Arab Emirates denied such an idea as a purpose of Biden’s trip to the region.

However, it is highly likely that some other Arab states follow the UAE and Bahrain to establish ties with Israel.

 “A number of Arab states are already cooperating with Israel on defense and intelligence sharing and they are buying Israeli weapons,” Hunter says.

Following is the text of the interview:

Q: How do you evaluate Biden's trip to the Middle East? Was it successful?

A: Biden's trip to the Middle East (West Asia) had three major goals:

1) To reassure Israel of the continued American support and Washington's determination to do whatever it takes to keep Iran from getting nuclear weapons. In this regard he was successful;

“In fact, the Saudis, especially MBS, were the winners of the Biden visit.” 2) To end the U.S.-Saudi estrangement caused by the murder of Jamal Khashoggi and helps accelerate the pace of Saudi-Israeli reconciliation and encourage Riyadh to establish diplomatic ties with Israel;

 3) To gain Saudi help to increase the level of its oil production and also influence the OPEC+ to do so. In these regards, he was only partially successful. The Saudi said that they are already producing 13 million barrels per day. They were also non-committal on persuading other OPEC members to lift their production levels.

In fact, the Saudis, especially MBS, were the winners of the Biden visit. After calling Saudi Arabia and MBS pariahs, Biden went to visit both.

Q: Do you think the idea of Arab NATO is realistic? Is the U.S. able to guarantee Persian Gulf Arab states' security? Apparently it is not the case, at least in Yemen.

A: Nothing remotely resembling NATO could be established in the Arab world. However, more formal and structured defense cooperation among some Arab states and potentially Israel is not beyond the realm of possibility. A number of Arab states are already cooperating with Israel on defense and intelligence sharing and they are buying Israeli weapons. So far, the U.S. and some European states have provided a defensive shield to the Persian Gulf Arab states. Even in Yemen, Western help has prevented the Houthis from achieving victory. Should the Saudi-U.S. relations continue to warm up, the West might provide more weapons to Riyadh and also pressure the Houthis in other ways.

Q: Do you expect any improvement in Saudi-Israeli ties after Biden's trip? Would the Saudis also join the normalization process with Israel?

A:  Already, Saudi Arabia has opened its skies to Israeli aircraft. This is a major gain for Tel Aviv, especially, if later Riyadh decides to allow Israeli military aircraft to use its airspace. However, as long as King Salman is alive, I don't foresee the establishment of diplomatic ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel.

Q: Do you predict the Saudi government will cooperate with the Biden administration to lower oil prices while Biden is not popular among the King Salman family?

 A: I believe Riyadh would cooperate to some degree but not at the price of antagonizing other key players. Also, Riyadh would try to get other concessions from the U.S. such as a harder approach towards Iran, inducing not returning to the JCPOA.

Q: Do you see any shift in American foreign policy when it comes to Palestine in the Biden, Trump and Obama administrations?

A: Unfortunately, at least for the past 42 years, all U.S. administrations have essentially given Israel what it has demanded and have remained silent as Israel has continued to deny the Palestinians' right to statehood as envisaged in the Two State formula. Meanwhile, Israel has expanded settlements in Palestinian lands while the West has remained inactive. This Israeli policy has basically rendered the two-state solution meaningless. I believe, the most Israel would agree to be a very limited autonomy for the Palestinian. But I'm not even sure of that.