Arabs share Bush's concerns over growing power of Iran

CAIRO, Egypt - Iran is the one issue where President Bush and Arab leaders have shared concerns. Ahead of the president's Mideast trip, Arab nations are eager to contain growing Iranian power, though they are wary of doing so militarily.

Arab countries, particularly those in the Persian Gulf region, are worried that the long standoff between Iran and the United States could escalate into military action and that they could get caught in the cross fire, with their vital oil exports disrupted.

Arab nations also worry about Iran's increasing influence in the region, particularly in Iraq and Lebanon.

Sunni Muslim countries such as Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the Gulf states fear that Iran will dominate Iraq in coming years through its influence on the country's Shiite politicians, particularly if U.S. troops withdraw from Iraq. So they want to ensure the position of Iraq's Sunni Arab minority.

Even before Bush begins his Mideast tour, Arab allies were pushing an effort to isolate Iran. Their focus is Lebanon, where they fear Iran - through its allies Syria and Hezbollah - can strengthen its foothold on a sensitive border with Israel.

Bush, who will visit several Gulf states, Saudi Arabia and Egypt after his first stop in Israel tomorrow, has said he will work with Mideast allies to develop a security plan to counter Iran. But while they may welcome U.S. support against Iran, Gulf nations are wary of signing a military or security pact with Washington, at least publicly, since they don't want to look like collaborators in a U.S. push against a Muslim country.

Iran already has threatened to hit U.S. bases in the Gulf and disrupt oil shipping if the United States launches military action, and Gulf states do not want to make themselves a direct target.

Instead, Arab countries are focusing on diplomatic moves, keeping up communications with Iran while trying to blunt its forays into the region.

Egypt last month rebuffed an Iranian attempt to restore full diplomatic ties, cut off since the 1979 Islamic revolution. Ali Larijani, a top envoy of Iran's supreme leader, was in Egypt for two weeks trying to negotiate a resolution, even offering generous incentives such as helping build nuclear reactors for Egypt and providing it with low-priced wheat.

But Egypt refused, apparently unable to ensure Iranian cooperation on a host of issues, including Iraq and Lebanon. "To have sustainable relations [with Iran], we should have a consensus" on regional issues, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said.

On Lebanon, Arab allies of the United States are worried that if the Syrian-backed opposition, particularly the Shiite extremist group Hezbollah, gains more power there, it will mean giving Iran an even stronger foothold in the country. That, and Iran's influence with the Palestinian extremist group Hamas, would give Tehran greater ability to disrupt the peace process between the Arabs and Israel.

At an Arab League meeting in Cairo on Saturday, Egypt and Saudi Arabia pushed Syria into accepting a formula for resolving the crisis over Lebanon's presidency. Syria signed on to a deal that backed naming Lebanese military chief Michel Suleiman as president and putting off the question of the shape of the next government, in which the opposition is demanding more power.

Arabs feel that Syria may only be ducking pressure it expects will mount during Bush's tour, while holding off until after an Arab summit in Damascus in March.

While Arab countries may see eye to eye with Bush on concerns over Iran, they are deeply skeptical over the other goal of his Mideast visit: pushing the Arab-Israeli peace process.

After a November conference in Annapolis, Md., Bush said he hoped Israel and the Palestinians could reach a peace accord before the end of his term in January 2009. But many in the Arab world see Washington's new push on peace as too little, too late, and doubt the United States will pressure Israel to make the concessions they demand.

"We will be waiting to see what the U.S. offers during the upcoming visit of President Bush, who bears the responsibility of moving the process forward," Arab League chief Amr Moussa said.

Israel will tell

President Bush during his visit this week that it is committed to "expeditiously" evacuating unauthorized settlement outposts in the West Bank, a spokesman for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said yesterday.

Bush has said

he expects Israel to comply with its five-year-old pledge to take down the outposts, tiny encampments seen by the Palestinians as

a major impediment to

a peace deal.

Bush arrives tomorrow

on

a three-day mission to push for progress in recently restarted Mideast peace talks.

The first phase

of a 2002 "road map" peace plan requires Israel to stop settlement construction and remove outposts, while the Palestinians dismantle extremist groups that attack

the Israelis.

In later phases,

the two sides are to tackle core issues including final borders, a solution for Palestinian refugees, and sovereignty in Jerusalem.

- Associated Press