JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia, June 24, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – US Secretary of State Mike
Pompeo met Monday with Saudi Arabia’s rulers as he sought to coordinate with
allies over soaring tensions with Iran.
On a day trip scheduled after Iran shot down a US drone, Pompeo flew into
the Red Sea city of Jeddah and met with King Salman at his palace.
“You are a dear friend,” the king told Pompeo as he shook hands with the
top US diplomat and his aides.
Pompeo later opened talks with the powerful crown prince, Mohammed bin
Salman. The top US diplomat was due to fly later Monday to the United Arab
Emirates.
Both Saudi and Emirati leaders advocate a tough US approach against
regional rival Iran, whose downing of the unmanned drone prompted President
Donald Trump to order a military strike before changing his mind.
Pompeo, speaking to reporters as he left Washington, called Saudi Arabia
and the United Arab Emirates “two great allies in the challenge that Iran
presents”.
“We’ll be talking with them about how to make sure that we are all
strategically aligned and how we can build out a global coalition,” Pompeo
said.
He said the United States sought a coalition “not only throughout the Gulf
states but in Asia and in Europe that understands this challenge and that is
prepared to push back against the world’s largest state sponsor of terror”.
But the hawkish US stance has drawn limited support among its allies in
Europe, which still support a denuclearisation deal negotiated under former
president Barack Obama from which Trump pulled out last year, triggering
tensions. Iran says that the US drone encroached its airspace — a charge
that Washington denies — and accuses Washington of waging economic warfare
by unilaterally imposing sanctions, including trying to stop all its oil
exports.
The US pointman on Iran, Brian Hook, on Monday held his own talks in Oman,
which has often served as a go-between for Washington and Tehran.
Pompeo’s trip comes despite growing controversy inside the United States
over the Trump administration’s cosy relationship with Mohammed bin Salman
after US-based dissident writer Jamal Khashoggi was killed and dismembered in
the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last year.
Pompeo used rare emergency powers, citing Iran as a threat, to authorise
$8.1 billion in weapons sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates,
despite concerns in the US Congress that the arms will go to kill civilians
in the devastating war in Yemen.
Pompeo added the Middle East stops on his way to a previously scheduled
visit to India.