Iran and the United Arab Emirates are embroiled in a furious new row after the latter's ambassador to Washington publicly expressed support for a US attack on Iranian nuclear facilities.

Yousef al-Otaiba commented bluntly that the benefits would outweigh the short-term costs of military action. "We cannot live with a nuclear Iran," the envoy said at a conference in Aspen, Colorado. "I am willing to absorb what takes place at the expense of the security of the UAE."

Tehran hit back swiftly with a warning from a leading MP of a "teeth-breaking" response to these "harsh and crude" remarks and a possible ban on Iranian travel to the Gulf state, which does billions of dollars of trade annually with Iran.

The UAE foreign ministry called the reported comments "inaccurate and taken out of context", but they were recorded by the Atlantic Magazine, which organised the conference. The ministry insisted that the UAE wanted a peaceful solution to the crisis over Iran's nuclear programme.

The spat follows Iran's decision to scale back economic relations with the UAE after Abu Dhabi implemented the latest UN sanctions punishing Tehran for ignoring demands over that programme.

The row also underlines wider nervousness in the Gulf about Iran, though the UAE is the most hawkish of its neighbours and has been in dispute with it over three islands since 1971.

Controversy erupted in nearby Kuwait recently over an alleged spy ring for Iran's Revolutionary Guard, and there are concerns elsewhere about Iranian subversion against the Sunni Arab monarchies.

Otaiba was quoted as saying that he "absolutely" wanted the US to use force to halt Iran's nuclear programme.

"Countries in the region view the Iran threat very differently," he said. "I can only speak for the UAE, but talk of containment and deterrence really concerns me and makes me very nervous. Iran doesn't have nuclear power now but … what makes me think that once they have a nuclear programme, we are going to be able to be more successful in containing them?"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/07/uae-envoy-iran-nuclear-sites

The sooner the US realise Iran needs to pummelled militarily, the better for all of us. If Iran keeps rebuffing entreaties to it, the US has to take decisive military action.

Expect the diplomat to come deny these quotes credited to him in the next few days.