Cheney throws down the gauntlet Gulf News
From the safety of a US aircraft carrier somewhere in the Arabian Gulf, Vice-President Dick Cheney increased the anti-Iran rhetoric.
Vowing the US - and its allies - would not allow Tehran to restrict sea traffic in the Gulf, nor develop nuclear arms; his comments were a deliberate provocation, both in timing and location, to Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
It is more than likely Ahmadinejad will respond, initially by equally strident rhetoric, but ultimately is anyone's guess. And it is that unpredictability that makes so many nervous.
Cheney has been on a short visit to Middle East countries the US sees as allies. So making such a strident statement immediately after his visit will, by inference, mean he is including those Arab Gulf states when he claims the US "and its allies" will move against anything untoward from Iran.
Such careless talk by the vice-president is not only unwelcome but is likely to have created an all-inclusiveness that is not welcome to the Arab states. It is also quite probable that action against Iran was not mentioned at all during his meetings. This then creates an embarrassment to the Gulf countries Cheney visited.
If the Arab Gulf states were to deny that they would join with the US against Iran to keep sea traffic open and stop nuclear development, then it would imply they were supporting Iran and its ideologies in these areas.
But equally, to confirm that they are partners in the US endeavour will only exacerbate what is already a tenuous situation in the region and may invite some form of retaliation from Iran.
It is obvious that Cheney, in common with many in the Bush administration, pays little heed to the nuances of Middle East politics. It would have been better if he had kept quiet.