GCC

The political bloc of Oman, Qatar, and Iran is working together to legitimize Houthis politically and to facilitate Houthi leadership travel to Iran, as well as training for the fighters. All of that serves to benefit Iran's agenda in the region and undermines the GCC even as GCC was created to counter jointly Iran's security threats to the Gulf Arab states in the 1980s.

There are many competing factors involved in this crisis which could create challenges to regional security should diplomatic tools fail to solve their differences.

The first part in a series of interviews of leading lights on Iraq and its environs.