WINEP targets Dubai: "... while Abu Dhabi is clearly apprehensive about the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran, Dubai appears less so..."

Keep up the pressure, behave, say the usurpers, ... or else! We'll remind the world of proliferation, AQ Khan, money laundering, .... & Suzanne Tamim!

WINEP/ here

Willingly or not, Dubai has been thrust onto the front line of diplomacy aimed at curbing Iran's nuclear ambitions and terrorism sponsorship. The January 20, 2010, assassination of Hamas gunrunner Mahmoud al-Mabhouh on its soil was a reminder of the emirate's longstanding trade and commercial links with Iran .....

UAE efforts to clamp down on illicit Iranian trade have grown in the face of U.S. pressure but are still a work in progress. The UAE passed its first national security export control law in 2007, and authorities have seized several illicit shipments destined for Iran. UAE officials say they are making it more difficult for Iranian businessmen to obtain and renew visas and commercial licenses. Similarly, Iranians are reportedly having trouble finding UAE banks to handle their transactions. In addition, plans have been announced to more closely regulate the dhow port on Dubai Creek, where customs supervision is currently nonexistent.

UAE initiatives do not necessarily mean cooperation from Dubai, however. Although the leading emirate, Abu Dhabi, holds nearly 8 percent of global oil reserves and often bankrolls the other six sheikhdoms, each emirate proudly preserves its independent status. Thus, while Abu Dhabi is clearly apprehensive about the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran, Dubai appears less so. In 2008, Sheikha Lubna al-Qasimi, the UAE's minister of economy and planning, explained why its authority and ability to act might be limited: "At the end of the day, Iran is still a neighbor."

Dubai has a track record of eschewing bureaucratic obstacles to trade and downplaying international dangers. Until late 2001, for example, it served as a financial center for al-Qaeda. ....

Dubai also played a central role in nuclear proliferation for many years....

Even before the Mabhouh assassination, various events had severely compromised Dubai's ambitions as an iconic city-state of the future......

Dubai also has experience with violent death. In 2008, an Egyptian politician paid a hit-man to kill Lebanese singer Suzanne Tamim, who was living there in an exclusive apartment block.....

Just weeks before the Mahbouh killing, the magazine Vanity Fair claimed that the CIA had tracked A. Q. Khan during his frequent visits to Dubai and had planned to assassinate him there. The magazine's source said the hit didn't happen "because of lack of political will" in Washington. A CIA spokesperson refused to discuss the question with the magazine.

The Mahbouh incident, Iran's nuclear ambitions, and Dubai's crucial regional role are probably key elements of conversations that visiting UAE foreign minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nayhan has had in Washington, D.C., this week. The assassination has likely damaged UAE-Israeli relations, which had grown steadily over the past decade with U.S. encouragement and regular, though unofficial, diplomatic exchanges. (Bilateral trade between the two countries has grown to $1 billion annually.) Sheikh Abdullah also knows the nuclear file, having been given a guided tour of Pakistan's centrifuge plant at Kahuta in 1999 by Khan himself. Going forward, the United States should point out that helping Hamas obtain arms is unacceptable. It should also emphasize that Dubai has the technical means to prevent Iran from exploiting the emirate to avoid sanctions. Abu Dhabi should use its interest in thwarting Iran and its financial leverage to ensure Dubai's greater cooperation."