WASHINGTON — Opening a new front in its effort against Iran, the Bush administration has begun developing a containment strategy with the Islamic state's Persian Gulf neighbors that aims to spread sophisticated missile defense systems across the region and to interdict ships carrying nuclear technology to the country.
Although the primary goal is to keep Tehran from obtaining a nuclear bomb, the defense effort also reflects the administration's planning for a day when Iran becomes a nuclear state and, officials fear, more aggressive in a region that provides oil exports to the world.
"Iran without nuclear arms is a threat.... With nuclear weapons it would become even more emboldened, in terms of moving forward with its aggressive designs," Robert Joseph, undersecretary of State for arms control and international security, said in an interview. "And that includes in the gulf, and many countries in the gulf are concerned about that."
Although Tehran insists that its uranium-enrichment program is aimed only at creating fuel for civilian use, gulf leaders are anxious about Iran's rising influence in the region and the possibility that it will develop nuclear weapons.
But they are also unwilling to appear provocative to Tehran, which is a major trading partner and an intermittent military threat.
U.S. officials will have to overcome that nervousness before they can persuade the nations to sign on to their full package of proposals, gulf officials and experts on the region say.
"They don't want to antagonize, so there is a degree to which they are conflicted," said a senior State Department official who requested anonymity.
However, he added, the gulf countries "as a whole are very receptive to the message."
U.S. officials say they see the initiative as a way to put additional pressure on Tehran while they press ahead with their primary diplomatic effort, which calls for the U.N. Security Council to take steps to halt Iran's enrichment program. The U.S. has so far failed to win enough support at the United Nations for sanctions.
Joseph rolled out the proposal during a trip last month to the gulf states of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman.
John Hillen, assistant secretary of State for political-military affairs, led a top-level U.S. delegation to the region last week for further discussions.
