Adding to tensions is a bill proposed in U.S. Congress to lift Riyadh’s immunity if any Saudi officials are found to have been involved in the September 11, 2001, attacks.
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The United States will deter and confront aggression against Gulf Arab countries, who continue to have concerns about threats from Iran, President Barack Obama said on Thursday after meeting their leaders to iron out strains in their alliance.
The mood of the trip to Riyadh was less strained and the attendance greater than a similar gathering past year at Camp David when King Salman of Saudi Arabia and other gulf leaders skipped the talks.
Obama, on likely his final presidential visit to America’s historic Gulf allies, was in Riyadh seeking to reduce tensions with the Sunni Arab states.
US President Barack Obama (R) speaks with Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan (L), Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, during the US-Gulf Cooperation Council Summit in Riyadh, on April 21, 2016. The GCC and the United States said they would increase information sharing on Iran. After meetings with officials from six Gulf countries, he left with little to announce by way of new commitments the USA had requested.
“When we entered into negotiations with Iran on the nuclear deal there was concern that in the interest of getting a deal done we would somehow look the other way with respect to other destabilising activities”, Obama said in the news conference.
Obama said the fragile cessation of hostilities there is under “tremendous strain” and he decried continued violations, but made the case for sticking to the US strategy of using diplomatic talks to pursuing a political transition for Syria. He warned, however, of the risk of confrontation with Tehran.
The president added in his statement that all the leaders were committed both to the fight against Islamic State and to de-escalating regional conflicts, and addressed the Gulf countries’ concerns on Iran.
The Gulf states have been deeply skeptical of Obama’s willingness to negotiate with Shiite powerhouse Iran, amid fears that the nuclear deal with the Islamic Republic will lead to a rebalancing of regional stances at their expense.
The president says the formation of a new government in Libya and peace talks to end fighting in Yemen – along with last year’s nuclear deal with Iran – wouldn’t have been possible without support from the Gulf states. Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states are part of the US-led coalition which has been carrying out air strikes against IS. On Thursday, Carter pleaded for greater Gulf financial and political involvement in Iraq, which is battling an economic crisis as well as the extremists.
Obama said the fragile cessation of hostilities there was under “tremendous strain” and he decried continued violations, but made the case for sticking to the US strategy of using diplomatic talks to pursuing a political transition for Syria. A Saudi-led coalition has been involved with fighting against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen since 2015.
Jihadists – including the powerful local branch of Al-Qaeda – have exploited the Yemen conflict to strengthen their presence in the country’s south.
Emerging from a two-and-a-half hour meeting between Obama and Salman, U.S. officials described a productive session they claimed reduced some of the awkwardness that had seeped into the bilateral relationship.
The diplomatic offensive followed months of rising tensions between the United States and the Gulf monarchies, which have for decades enjoyed strong security ties.
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Obama arrived for his brief visit to the Saudi kingdom Wednesday, looking to overcome a strain in ties between Riyadh and Washington.
