Abu Dhabi // The United States and the GCC have a “common vision” for the Middle East and Washington will continue to help Gulf countries enhance their military capabilities and counter Iran’s destabilising regional activities, Barack Obama said on Thursday as he sought to reassure wary regional partners over US security commitments and stance on Tehran.
“I reaffirmed the policy of the United States to use all elements of our power to secure our core interests in the Gulf region, and to deter and confront external aggression against our allies and our partners,” the US president said at a summit with GCC leaders in Riyadh on Thursday. “And we reached a common vision on how to move forward, together, in key areas.”
The summit came a year after the US hosted a a similar meeting aimed at convincing Gulf countries to support, or at least not openly oppose, the nuclear deal with their chief adversary Iran.
In that time, Gulf officials say they have only seen Iran accelerate its projection of power in the region, and have chafed at comments by Mr Obama they perceive as signalling his desire for them to “share the neighbourhood”.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of Armed Forces, said the summit was being held at a significant time and underscored the US commitment to its ties with the GCC.
“The GCC countries understand the nature of the changes and transformations taking place at regional and international arenas, and are closely monitoring them so as to respond to them with careful and forward-looking vision through diverse foreign action and building of effective strategic partnerships with important, influencing powers regionally and internationally” to bring about security and stability in the Middle East, Sheikh Mohammed said.
Thursday’s talks were aimed in large measure at clearing the air and reassuring the GCC. Mr Obama said reports about the tensions were “always overblown” and that he was not naive about Iran.
His engagement was not a realignment but akin to western negotiations with the Soviet Union during the Cold War. He said he had a “dual track” approach of holding Iran accountable as well as offering engagement to bolster Iranian reformers.
“None of our nations have an interest in conflict with Iran,” the US president said at a summit with GCC leaders in Riyadh on Thursday.
Mr Obama prodded Gulf leaders to contribute more to the fight against ISIL and to see the strategic benefits of engaging with Iran, not only confronting it and its allies and proxies on battlefields across the region.
The US and GCC still have “serious concerns” about Iran’s support for allied militants and proxies, Mr Obama said, citing the recent seizures of small arms from Iran bound for Yemen. Gulf leaders were expected to press Mr Obama on the steps Washington will take against Iran for tests of ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear weapons. The US says these were a violation of UN Security Council resolutions, though not of the nuclear deal. “We will remain vigilant to make sure Iran fulfils its commitments, just as we fulfil ours,” Mr Obama said.
The GCC and US pledged to increase sharing of information on threats posed by Iran in the region.
The summit also sought to increase coordination and cooperation on regional conflicts, and advance progress on the five joint working groups set up after the talks in the US last year to help enhance the security capabilities of the GCC as a bloc.
There were few announcements of significant progress, especially on integration of ballistic-missile defences, a process fraught with intra-GCC political considerations. They will “expeditiously reach consensus on steps necessary to implement an integrated ballistic missile defence early warning system”, according to a joint communique issued after the summit.
It also announced a meeting in May that will include a tabletop exercise – discussion of a simulated emergency situation – which military analysts say is important to reinforce the necessity of integration as a deterrent to Iran.
On Iraq, Mr Obama said the GCC countries had agreed to increase their contributions to the fight against ISIL there.
The US secretary of defence, who attended the summit, asked Gulf counterparts earlier in the week to contribute more, both financially and politically through their influence on Sunni groups, to help stabilise Sunni-majority areas retaken from the extremist group. The UAE pledged US$10 million (Dh36.7m), while no other concrete commitments were announced.
The communique said the leaders “called for intensified efforts to stabilise territory liberated from ISIL and deliver additional aid to Iraq’s refugees and IDPs [internally displaced persons]”.
US policy in Syria has been a stark example of how diverging priorities have undermined cooperation between Washington and Gulf capitals, who generally consider the Assad regime backed by Iran and Russia to be the primary cause of extremism. Mr Obama appears to have softened his call for Bashar Al Assad to step down during a political transition, and has not supported the rebels’ Gulf backers desire to empower them on the battlefield.
After the summit, Mr Obama said the cessastion of hostilities that has allowed for faltering peace talks in Geneva is under “tremendous strain”, but urged his partners to continue to back the negotiations, although he admitted they “may be breaking down”.
The communique did not address the key issue of when Mr Al Assad would step down, if at all, but instead “reaffirmed the need for a political transition away from Bashar Al Assad that preserves state institutions and sustains renewed focus on the fight against ISIL and the Nusrah Front”.
Mr Obama met separately with Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed on Wednesday night to discuss the war in Yemen, among other issues, where the UAE has played a central role on the ground backing forces allied to the government against Houthi rebels and their allies.
The US has supported the coalition with logistical and intelligence assistance and expedited munitions sales. But the civilian toll of the conflict and the room it has given Al Qaeda to expand have made US officials increasingly wary, and criticism of US support for the war has grown louder in the US congress.
Referring to Al Qaeda and ISIL in Yemen, the joint statement “emphasised the importance of actions to counter this threat in parallel with progress reaching a political settlement of the conflict”.
Both the Saudi-led coalition and Yemeni government, and the rebels, appear to be more prepared to make a deal ahead of the current round of delayed peace talks that started on Thursday.
The communique issued on Thursday stated that Mr Obama and GCC leaders “urged all parties to make the difficult decisions necessary to achieve a durable, inclusive political settlement of the conflict” and that they “undertook to support the long-term reconstruction of Yemen, including through its economic integration with the GCC economies”.
Mr Obama also announced that the US would help GCC countries to transition away from economic dependence on fossil fuels and to institute reforms. “The United States and the GCC will launch a new high-level economic dialogue with a focus on adjusting to lower oil prices, increasing our economic ties and supporting GCC reforms as they work to provide jobs and opportunities to their young people and all of their citizens,” he said.
Ahead of the summit, observers said the fact of the follow-on meeting itself was a positive step that showed a desire to do more to institutionalise the US-GCC relationship, in the hopes that this will allow for greater communication and coordination, even if differences remain.
Mr Obama urged his successor in the White House to continue to hold annual leadership-level US-GCC summits.
tkhan@thenational.ae
* with reportig from Wam
