Azerbaijan, Baku, 9 January / corr Trend A.Gasimova / George Bush, the US President, during his tour of the Middle East will convince the Arab states that any successor will treat the Iranian threat just as seriously, Michael Rubin, an American expert, said.
On 9 Jan, the US President began his 8-day tour of six Near East countries, during which he plans to pay his first ever visit to Israel over 8-year of his presidency, as well as plan to tour Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
"The United States has the military might, but many of its smaller, Persian Gulf allies question the willingness of the United States to defend them against Iran in the long-term? If the Arab states have any question about the strength of the United States' commitment, they will make some sort of accommodation with Iran," Rubin, analyst of the American Institute of Entrepreneurship, also former adviser to Pentagon, said.
According to Rubin, Iranian diplomats tell all the regional countries, "you may like the united states better, but we [ Iran] will always be your neighbors and so you have to make a deal with us." All the Arab emirates have relations with Iran, and there is no reason why that shouldn't continue. Iran is an important country and, for them, an important trading partner, he said.