set mac iptables to allow external traffic for AWS MySQL

Question

I am using mac os x mountain lion. I need to configure MySQL Workbench to access my db on AWS.

After installing MySQL Workbench and trying to connect I get the error "Host ..... is not allowed to connect to this mysql server". After searching online for answers, I found someone had a similar problem where the apparent solution is

1. Mysql needs to be up and running and bound to listen on any IP.
2. Software firewalls need to be disabled or configured to allow external traffic (iptables on linux, windows firewall on windows)
3. Security group needs to have a rule to allow your ip address to access the instance on port 3306

So I got step one working. But I don't know how to check whether my iptable is configured to allow external traffic or how to set it to do so. Is anyone here able to help me out?