NICE TO KNOW IT, BOB - AT 7:01 A.M. ET:  Apparently, the concerns of Mideast nations over our "outreach" to Iran have finally registered with the Obama team.  This should have happened much earlier, but at least there's finally a response:

ABOARD A U.S. MILITARY AIRCRAFT (AP) -- Defense Secretary Robert Gates, seeking to soothe Mideast allies worried about Tehran's reach, said Sunday that efforts to bolster U.S. relations with Iran may still ultimately face what he called ''a closed fist.''

Gates was flying to Egypt, the first stop on a Mideast tour that continues in Saudi Arabia. He said part of his mission will be to assure Saudis that any U.S. outreach to Iran aims to increase security throughout the region.

And...

''There's probably some concerns in the region that may draw on an exaggerated sense of what's possible,'' Gates said. ''And I just think it's important to reassure our friends and allies in the region that while we're willing to reach out to the Iranians, as the president said, with an open hand, I think everybody in the administration, from the president on down, is pretty realistic and will be pretty tough-minded if we still encounter a closed fist.''

COMMENT:  The problem, of course, is that we probably won't encounter a closed fist, but one slightly open - just open enough to continue negotiations and drag them out.  That's the real nightmare scenario, for every day that goes by brings Iran closer to a nuclear weapon. 

Recently, the administration handed Iran two gifts:  Gates himself essentially took the military option off the table, a major strategic blunder, in my view.  It wasn't necessary and wasn't called for.  And the State Department announced that it wasn't placing any time limit on talks with Iran, something that key members of Congress had recommended that it do.  Again, that was neither necessary nor called for. 

So Iran now knows that the military pressure is off and that, officially at least, we're not watching the clock.  If you were Tehran, what would you do?  I suggest that extending the slightly open fist would be the wise strategy - talk, smile a bit, and concede nothing.

The Persians are known, historically, as superb negotiators.  I suspect they're about to prove it once more, at our expense.

May 4, 2009