Jordan has 'powerful undercurrent of doubt' in Obama policies

U.S. President Barack Obama delivers a statement to the media at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington on Nov. 29, 2010. Obama proposed freezing the pay of federal civilian employees this year and next as part of an effort to bring the budget deficit under control. UPI/Andrew Harrer/Pool Photo via Newscom

JERUSALEM – The Jordanian government maintains a "powerful undercurrent of doubt" that the Obama administration knows how to deal with Iran, according to classified documents released by WikiLeaks and reviewed by WND.

An April 2009 cable from the U.S. embassy in Jordan summarized the Jordanian leadership's attitudes toward President Obama's offer of diplomacy to Iran.

"Jordan's leaders are careful not to be seen as dictating toward the U.S.," read the cable, "but their comments betray a powerful undercurrent of doubt that the United States knows how to deal effectively with Iran."

The cable continued: "(Jordanian) Foreign Minister Nasser Joudeh has suggested the Iranians would be happy to let talks with the U.S. continue for ten years without moving them forward, believing that they can benefit from perceived acceptance after years of isolation without paying a price."

"Upper House President Zeid Rifai has predicted that dialogue with Iran will lead nowhere," related the cable.

The U.S. embassy in Jordan was responding to a State Department request for evaluations of other reactions to diplomacy with Iran.

The cable quotes Jordanian officials lecturing the U.S. about Iran being seen as "an octopus" whose tentacles "reach out insidiously to manipulate, foment, and undermine the best laid plans of the West and regional moderates."

Iran's tentacles, the Jordanians argued, include its allies Qatar and Syria, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in the Palestinian territories, an Iraqi government sometimes seen as supplicant to Tehran, and Shia communities throughout the Middle East.

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