Rubio Tries To Ease Gulf Allies’ Fears of Capitulation to Tehran

As Secretary of State Marco Rubio launches a trip to America’s Gulf allies that are skeptical of Iran negotiations, other Arab and Muslim countries are contemplating additional concessions to the Islamic Republic. Mr. Rubio landed at Abu Dhabi on Tuesday at the start of a trip to the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Bahrain. “We want to make sure that their views are taken into account, and we understand their security concerns, their regional economic concerns as well,” the secretary told reporters Tuesday. Secretary Rubio, who is also national security adviser, is widely seen as a top Iran hawk in President Trump’s inner circle. Yet is he traveling to the Gulf to calm allies’ nerves, or, conversely, to take their fears of American capitulation back to Washington?“It’s probably a bit of both,” the executive director at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Jonathan Schanzer, tells the Sun. “What’s being negotiated right now is obviously very disconcerting for any of the countries that wanted to see the Islamic Republic lose this war.” And “while the Vance negotiating team works with the Qataris and the Pakistanis, nobody seems to be talking to the other Gulf states, who were at the heart of this crisis.”Messrs. Trump and Vance are praising Qatar and Pakistan for mediating the Memorandum of Understanding that was signed in Switzerland last week. The pact includes sanction easing, including a licence for Iran to openly sell oil. Tehran officials, though, contradict White House claims that the mullahs agreed, for one, to allow inspectors to visit nuclear sites. “Iran is being very nice, they’re agreeing to everything I want them to do,” Mr. Trump told reporters Wednesday. Tehran officials, though, claim that Hormuz will never open to free navigation as it was before February 28. The mullahs and the Sultanate of Oman are devising a scheme to control shipping traffic in the strait, which would benefit Iran financially. While Mr. Rubio spoke to the Gulf’s most skeptical leaders, Qatar’s prime minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani visited Muscat, Oman, on Wednesday. The Qatari’s trip highlights a Gulf split between countries that rush to accommodate Tehran and those seething over America’s appetite for concessions. As Mr. Rubio visits Gulf leaders, America’s top ally in the war, Israel, is all but frozen out. “There should be a visit to the Israelis too,” Mr. Schanzer says. “This is a moment of significant tension over there.” Israelis increasingly prefer to have nothing to do with America’s Iran diplomacy. This way, the Israel Defense Forces could ignore pressure from Washington. That pressure is growing even as Israel insists on acting independently in Lebanon. Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed on Wednesday to continue fighting Hezbollah, adding that the IDF has detailed plans to address Iran aggression as well. Israelis almost uniformly condemn what they see as Mr. Trump’s abandonment of hawkish positions on Iran, turning instead to appeasement and to praise of “moderate” mullahs. At the same time he occasionally criticizes Jerusalem’s military action in harsh tones. “You could have been the greatest president of all, but you failed,” is a headline in Israel Hayom. In an open letter to Mr. Trump, a veteran columnist, Danny Zaken writes, “You betrayed us, the Israelis, and in a single moment, the contempt you once faced suddenly seems so justified and logical,” Mr. Zaken writes. The significance of the scathing column, beyond its reflection of a widely-held Israeli sentiment, is where it is printed. Israel Hayom is owned by an Israeli-American billionaire, Miriam Adelson, who has been one of Mr. Trump’s top donors in three election campaigns. Ms. Adelson was seated right next to Mr. Trump in November 2024, when he celebrated a sweeping presidential election victory. A disappointment at Mr. Trump’s about-face on Iran is also widely held in Arab countries that have made peace with Israel under the Abraham Accords banner. The UAE suffered from more Iranian missile and drone attacks during the war than Israel did. It was also a rare Gulf state that joined America and Israel in striking Iranian targets. “In the Middle East loyalty is currency,” a top Emirati commentator, Amjad Taha, writes on X. “A person who abandons an ally halfway and cuts deals behind their back is not someone you call in a crisis.”Will Mr. Rubio’s tour ease Gulf concerns? More crucially, can he overcome Mr. Vance’s eagerness for an appeasement deal at all cost?

Rubio Tries To Ease Gulf Allies’ Fears of Capitulation to Tehran

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