By Sanaullah Ataullah

DOHA: A vast majority of Arab elite (84 percent) said in a survey they want strong economic ties with Iran but an equally high ratio of the interviewees (67 percent) said they thought Tehran played a negative role in the past 10 years in the region threatening Arab interests.

Some 60 percent of the respondents said they would like to visit Iran with many of them saying they were keen to be in that country for cultural reasons.

The survey was conducted by Al Jazeera Media Training and Development Centre. However 30 percent of the respondents said Iran had been playing a mixed role. Only a meagre two percent suggested that Iran’s role had been positive and served the interests of Arab countries.

The result of the survey ‘Opinion Poll: ‘Arab Elites’ Attitudes towards Arab-Iranian Relations and Iran’s Role in the Region’ was announced by Al Jazeera Training Centre officials at a press conference yesterday.

The survey is based on 860 phone interviews with Arab elites including thinkers politicians policymakers and academics from 21 countries between September 30 and November 30 2015.

The countries represented in the sample include Qatar Egypt Iraq Syria Lebanon Jordan Palestine Saudi Arabia Bahrain Kuwait the UAE Oman Yemen Libya Sudan Tunisia Algeria Morocco Mauritania Djibouti and Somalia.

The opinion of Shia community members especially in Iraq Lebanon and Saudi Arabia was also included.

Asked to choose between four of the most serious challenges facing Arab-Iranian relations 39 percent of Arab elites said the struggle over political roles and influence was the No. 1 challenge influencing ties between the two sides. The second greatest challenge was Iran’s intervention in the Arab world the third sectarian differences and the fourth Western intervention.

Asked to rate relations between Iran and the Arab world in general at the present time 90 percent respondents said relations were worse than they should be. Only five percent said they were as they should be and four percent said they were better than they should be.

When Arab elites were asked to identify the nations which posed the greatest threat to the region 62 percent said Israel 23 percent said Iran and 5 percent said the US.

This is noteworthy because Arab elites now identify Iran as the second-largest threat to the Arab world and because it indicates that the Palestinian issue which many respondents said Iran uses to further its interests in the region remains high on the agenda of Arab elites. Over 80 percent of Arab elites said Iran’s image in the Arab world was worse than it was before Arab Spring revolutions.

Arab elites were asked to examine Iran’s role in Syria and 90 percent of them agreed that “the fall of Bashar Al Assad’s regime in Syria would threaten Iran’s interests in the region”.

In the case of Syria Iraq and Yemen over 80 percent of respondents said Iran’s intervention in those revolutions was not justifiable.

Arab elites were also asked to evaluate Iran’s role and attitude towards Arab Spring revolutions. Nearly 80 percent said Iran’s attitude towards Arab Spring revolutions was “extremely negative” or “negative to some extent”.

The Peninsula