THE SUNDAY TIMES: President Bush urged America's Gulf allies to back his campaign against Iran today, saying that the safety of the world was at stake.
Speaking in a lavish, gold-encrusted hotel in Abu Dhabi, Mr Bush used the signature speech of his tour of the Middle East to denounce Tehran as the "world's leading sponsor of state terror".
His stern message came amid simmering tensions over last week's face-off between Iranian and US naval vessels in the nearby Strait of Hormuz, the most strategic oil-trading route in the region.
"Iran's actions threaten the security of nations everywhere," Mr Bush said. "So the United States is strengthening our long-standing security commitments with our friends in the Gulf, and rallying friends around the world to confront this danger before it's too late," he said.
But it was unclear how the United Arab Emirates – a staunch ally of the United States – would react to Mr. Bush's request that it play a bigger role in regional security.
Leaders of this oil-rich Gulf State are increasingly wary of Iran's growing influence and see their stability as intimately linked to the US.
However, the UAE's booming economy is closely tied to Iran, its biggest trading partner. Nearly half a million Iranians live in the Emirates, with about 10,000 Iranian firms operating in its commercial capital of Dubai.
When Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian President, visited last year, he was greeted with warm embraces from local rulers. George Bush tries to rally Gulf allies against Iran >>> By Sonia Verma in Abu Dhabi
Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)
