DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Among the many alliances of convenience in the Middle East, one is so unusual that the partners can barely hint about it publicly: Israel and the Gulf Arab states linked by shared fears of Iran’s nuclear program.
While their deeper disputes on the Palestinians effectively block any strategic breakthroughs, the recent warnings from Israel and the West about military options against Iran invariably draw in the Gulf and its rare meeting of minds with Jerusalem.
The Gulf states - a cornerstone for U.S. diplomatic and military pressure on Iran - are indispensable parts of any effort to confront Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.
And even Israel, which has no direct diplomatic outreach to the Gulf, is likely brought into the Gulf-centric policymaking with U.S. envoys acting as go-betweens, specialists say.
“I would be surprised if there is no knowledge about the Saudi positions [in Israel] or knowledge in Saudi of the Israeli positions,” said David Menashri, director of the Center for Iranian Studies at Tel Aviv University.
It’s part of a complicated mix of mutual worries and divergent risks - the Gulf, unlike Israel, has critical commercial and diplomatic ties with Iran - that puts Washington in the middle as the common ally and chief Western architect of pressure tactics on Iran.
The next moves are expected after the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency releases an intelligence report Tuesday to its 35 board members.
Early leaks from diplomats suggest that the document will indicate Iran has made computer models of a nuclear warhead and conducted other weapons-related work, which would strongly reinforce suspicions that Iran is working toward atomic weapons.
Iran denies it is seeking to develop nuclear arms and claims its program, including uranium enrichment labs, is only for energy and research.
In response to the reports last week, Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi accused the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of giving in to U.S. pressure to level the accusations, which he said were based on fabricated intelligence.
“Iran has already responded to the alleged studies in 117 pages. We’ve said time and again that these are forgeries similar to faked notes,” Mr. Salehi told reporters in Tehran.
For the moment, the speculation of an increased threat of military strikes is based on tougher comments by Israel and the West in advance of the IAEA report.
In the latest statement, Israeli President Shimon Peres said “the possibility of a military strike on Iran is more likely to be realized than the diplomatic option.”
Mr. Peres told the Yisrael Hayom newspaper that Israel must carefully weight all alternatives.
“I do not think there has already been a decision on the matter, but it appears that Iran is getting closer to obtaining nuclear weapons,” he said in comments published Sunday.
There is no apparent buildup or operational change at bases in the region, which for the U.S. include air wings scattered across the Gulf and the 5th Fleet naval hub in Bahrain.
U.S. military planners say they could shift at least 4,000 soldiers to Kuwait after next month’s withdrawal from Iraq as part of efforts to boost the Pentagon’s already strong presence in the Gulf. But Kuwait’s defense minister said Sunday that his country has plans to increase U.S. troops levels there.
The upcoming IAEA report also must run its course. The U.S. and others hope it will persuade the IAEA board to refer the findings to the U.N. Security Council for possible tougher sanctions on Iran or - as an alternative - a deadline for greater cooperation with the nuclear agency’s investigators.
Any scenario, however, likely will shed greater light on common ground between Israel and the Gulf states about how to further isolate and intimidate Iran.”
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