Riyadh: US President Donald Trump held talks on Sunday with leaders of the oil-rich Gulf monarchies, a day after Washington told their arch rival Iran to dismantle its “network of terrorism”.
The meeting on the second day of Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia, part of his first foreign tour since taking office, came hours before the US president is scheduled to address an Arab Islamic American Summit.
Leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council posed for a photo with Trump before they walked into their meeting. The GCC groups Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, all of which are traditional allies of Washington.
Most GCC monarchies accuse Tehran of meddling in their internal affairs and want Washington to be tougher with Iran, which secured a landmark nuclear deal with world powers when Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama was in office.
They consider Tehran to be a destablising factor in the region.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson yesterday demonstrated a tougher position on Tehran, saying multi- billion-dollar defence deals signed with Riyadh aim to protect Saudi Arabia from a “malign Iranian influence.”
In a joint press conference with his Saudi counterpart Adel al-Jubeir, Tillerson urged newly re-elected Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to dismantle his country’s “network of terrorism” and end “ballistic missile testing.”
Trump, accused of using anti-Muslim rhetoric on the election campaign trail, is later expected to tell Muslim leaders of his “hopes for a peaceful vision of Islam.”
Meanwhile , The United States and Gulf Arab countries to sign an agreement on Sunday to coordinate their efforts against the financing of terrorist groups, a senior White House official said, as US President Donald Trump visits the region.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will sign the memorandum of understanding in Riyadh, where the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is holding a summit with Trump. “It’s the, we hope, farthest reaching commitment to not finance terrorist organizations that (the US) Treasury will be monitoring with each of their counterparts,” said Dina Powell, White House deputy national security adviser for strategy.
“The unique piece of it is that every single one of them are signatories on how they’re responsible and will actually prosecute the financing of terrorism, including individuals.”
The GCC comprises Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
Western officials believe that people living in wealthy Gulf countries have been an important source of funding for Sunni Islamist groups fighting in Iraq and Syria, including Islamic State and al Qaeda. (Agencies)
