The U.S. President,
Barack Obama and Gulf Arab leaders has started talking on perceived security
threats from Iran and Islamic State and to iron out strains in their old
alliance.
According to the
report, the discussion started in an ongoing summit held on Thursday in Riyadh.
Obama hopes to allay
Gulf countries' fears over Iranian influence and encourage them to douse
sectarian tensions in an effort to confront the threat posed by jihadist
militants like Islamic State.
Those issues were
addressed in his bilateral talks with leaders from Saudi Arabia and the United
Arab Emirates, and will dominate again in the summit which includes the other
Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members.
Years of frustration
among Gulf countries, aggravated by more recent stumbles, may make Saudi Arabia
and its regional allies less receptive to Obama on his fourth and most probably
final trip to the kingdom.
The Middle East is
mired in a contest for influence between a bloc of mostly Sunni countries,
including the conservative, pro-Western Gulf monarchies, and revolutionary
Shi'ite Iran and its allies.
Most of the GCC
states, which also include Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman, have been bitterly
disappointed in Obama's presidency, during which they believe the U.S. has
pulled back from the region, giving more space to Iran.
They were also upset
by Obama's remarks in a magazine interview that appeared to cast them as
free-riders in U.S. security efforts and urged them to share the region with
Tehran.
For his part, the
American president has said he wants Gulf allies to offer more democratic
reforms and improve human rights, which he discussed with Saudi King Salman.
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 Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
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