The U.S.-allied Sunni Gulf Arab states had little enthusiasm for former president George W. Bush’s hardline stance on Iran, fearing it could spill into a war that would engulf the region.But equally they worry the offer of an improvement in U.S.-Iran ties held out by President Barack Obama could go too far by offering concessions to a powerful regional player they have long regarded with a mix of suspicion and hostility.”We have no objection to Iranian-American negotiations. On the contrary, we encourage this kind of dialogue as a way of avoiding taking the region into military action,” said Mustafa Alani, at the Dubai-based Gulf Research Center.”At the same time we have huge concerns that the Americans could give concessions to the Iranians which would undermine our security and be unacceptable to us,” he said.
