Obama’s Nixon doctrine: Anointing Iran

WASHINGTON,DC: In December, President Obama said that he wished to see Iran ultimately become a “very successful regional power.” His wish—a nightmare for the Western-oriented Arab states—is becoming a reality. Consider:

Gulf of Aden: Iran sends a flotilla of warships and weapons-carrying freighters to reinforce the rebels in Yemen—a noncontiguous, non-Persian, nonthreatening (to Iran) Arabian state—asserting its new status as regional bully and arbiter. The Obama administration sends an aircraft carrier group, apparently to prevent this gross breach of the U.N. weapons embargo on Yemen. Instead, the administration announces that it has no intention of doing anything. Meanwhile, it exerts pressure on Saudi Arabia to halt its air war over Yemen and agree to negotiate a political settlement involving Iran.