Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, president of the United Arab Emirates, supreme commander of the UAE Armed Forces and ruler of Abu Dhabi, and Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice president and UAE prime minister and ruler of Dubai, welcomed the US president at the airport.

This Middle East trip to oil-rich Gulf allies is to seek support for America’s Middle East policy. President Bush held talks with the UAE President on issues of cooperation between the two countries, and the situation in the Middle East region.

For the Dubai visit, the first day was declared a holiday. The occasion warranted the blocking of major thoroughfares including the Al Was Road, Um Sequeim, and Jumeirah Beach Road (where the famous 7-star hotel, Burj al Arab is on).

President Bush delivered his policy speech at the Emirates Palace, an opulent, gold-trimmed hotel where a suite goes for $2,450 a night. Built at a cost of $3 billion, the hotel is a kilometer long from end to end and has a 1.3 kilometer white sand beach, every grain of it imported from Algeria, according to Steven Pike, a spokesman at the US Embassy here.

The president’s speech was mostly directed to the Iranian people, that Iranians have a right to live under a government "that listens to your wishes." The UAE is Iran’s main trading partner with up to 10,000 Iranian firms operating in Dubai.

"To the people of Iran: You’re rich in culture and talent. You have the right to live under a government that listens to your wishes, respects your talents, and allows you to build better lives for your families.

"Unfortunately your government denies you these opportunities, and threatens the peace and stability of your neighbors.... So we call on the regime in Tehran to heed your will, and to make itself accountable to you.

"The day will come when the people of Iran will have a government that embraces liberty and justice, and Iran joins the community of free nations. When that good day comes you will have no better friend than the United States of America.

"Iran’s actions threaten the security of nations everywhere.... It seeks to intimidate its neighbors with missiles and bellicose rhetoric.

"Washington has warned that it will use force in self-defense.

"We are rallying friends around the world to confront this danger before it is too late."

President Bush was in Bahrain before this visit. He will proceed to Saudi Arabia from here.

It was Vice Adm. Kevin Cosgriff, commander of the US Navy’s 5th Fleet, who earlier this month confronted the Iranian fleet of high-speed boats.

There was also an audible threat to blow up a three-ship US Navy convoy passing near Iranian waters. The Iranian naval forces vanished as the American ship commanders were preparing to open fire.

The Pentagon released a voice recording of the threat to blow up the US vessels.

"They have deliberate and measured ways to engage other traffic there in the Strait of Hormuz, which they did. But all the military people remember what happened in the past, such as the USS Cole.... The vice admiral said they take it deadly seriously."

Later, the Pentagon admitted that a threatening sound recording in its care may not have emanated from the Iranian vessels. US naval experts now believe that the threatening voice may have been that of a local heckler who frequently interrupts ship-to-ship radio traffic with insulting interventions. Both countries ought to put effort into locating this heckler, to be punished severely.