Pakistan, June 26 -- US Secretary of State Marco Rubio's Gulf tour has underscored how, while negotiating with Tehran, Washington, DC, is just as busy trying to convince Riyadh, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Manama, Kuwait and Muscat that the bargain will not be struck over Arab heads. Rubio's message to the GCC capitals was deliberately precise: any final agreement must protect America's Gulf allies, and no country should be allowed to turn international waterways into a toll gate. The warning was directed at Tehran, but its real audience was the Gulf, where governments that backed Washington during the war now want to know about their own security and sovereignty.

The resumption of quiet confidence-building contacts between Iran and several Gulf st...