Discussing the Wikileaks cables relating to the Arab countries on his blog, Gary Sick of Columbia University writes:

A theme that is prevalent in all these diplomatic cables is the working assumption by the various host countries that the United States can solve their problems for them. 

Those Arabs berating Iran had no plans of their own for dealing with their lowering neighbour. Rather, they merely seemed to be venting in the hopes of persuading the Americans to do something, anything, to solve the problem of Iran’s growing influence in the Persian Gulf. 

Publicly, however, they opposed such action. As the Prime Minister of Qatar memorably remarked: “They (the Iranians) lie to us and we lie to them.” Still, at the same time in other conversations Arab leaders and government officials were wringing their hands — publicly and privately — that military action would lead to a “catastrophe.”

So they seemed to be saying to their American colleagues: “I will hold your coat in private while you take action that I publicly deplore, and when it produces a catastrophe I will say that I told you so.”