Saudis: "We don't want a war with Iran ....but...."

Ignatius in the WaPo, here

"... By seeking to engage all the major actors in the Middle East at once, Obama is pursuing a general settlement of tensions in a dangerously unstable region. That's intriguing and also worrying for countries in the Middle East. It makes Saudis and Israelis -- not to mention Iranians and Syrians -- nervous.

If you're looking for a historical analogy for this scale of diplomacy, think of the Congress of Vienna of 1815. That gathering produced a new security architecture for a Europe that had been violently destabilized by revolutionary France -- in something like the way the Middle East has been upset by the 1979 Iranian revolution.

Obama chose to give a gaudy public preview of his diplomacy with the televised "Nowruz" greeting to Iran's leaders last month on the occasion of the Persian new year. It brought a quick public rebuff from Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who said Iran was looking for a change in American behavior, not kind words.

Some veteran diplomats think Obama would have been wiser to make a quieter opening -- say, a presidential letter to the Iranian leader, delivered by a senior emissary. That would have given Iran time to respond carefully, in private, rather than backing it into a corner with the video.

The Obama administration has proceeded more cautiously with Syria. The issues were explored early this year by an Arab intermediary trusted by both sides. Through this channel, the Americans signaled their desire to talk about Syria's role in Iraq, joint Syrian-American action against jihadists, and the future of Lebanon, including the role of Hezbollah. The emissary signaled that the United States couldn't discuss return of the Golan Heights, which is a matter for Israel, or the international tribunal to investigate the murder of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri, which is under U.N. jurisdiction.

The preliminary discussions were followed by a visit to Damascus by two experienced U.S. diplomats, Jeffrey Feltman and Daniel Shapiro. They explored a range of issues, but in a cautious and preliminary way. Both the United States and Syria are still testing each other's intentions; they want to see what's on offer and at what price. Those are the right questions to ask before the curtain goes up.....

The Saudis, Egyptians and other Sunni Arab countries have been sending Obama a similar message. "We don't want a war with Iran," says one Saudi source. "But we are asking whether a U.S.-Iranian understanding will recognize our interests, or will it be at our expense?" The Saudis hope that if Obama's charm offensive toward Iran fails, it will be followed by tough action. "He's building a case against Iran," predicts the Saudi source."