Biden meets Arab Gulf countries to unite against Iran

 

Photo Credit: AP.

US President Joe Biden is meeting with Arab Gulf countries Saturday to lay out his Middle East strategy and unite the region against Iran that is inching closer to developing nuclear weapons.

In the Red Sea port city of Jeddah, Biden will meet with heads of state from six Arab Gulf countries, plus Egypt, Jordan and Iraq for a regional summit, according to The Associated Press.

The White House said Biden will offer his most fulsome vision yet for the region and how the U.S. can cooperate with it when he speaks to the Gulf Cooperation Council and its Arab allies.

“It’s a strategy fit for purpose for 2022 as opposed to the two decades of major land wars that the U.S. fought in this region over the course of the 2000s,” Biden national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters in a preview of the speech, The Associated Press reports.

Top on Biden’s agenda is soaring energy prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as he seeks cooperation from the region to boost supplies.

“I suspect you won’t see that for another couple of weeks,” Biden told reporters late Friday, according to The Associated Press.

The Middle East remains divided over how to deal with Iran’s threat. Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates are talking proportionate steps to isolate Iran over its military expansionism and terrorism sponsorship but Oman and Qatar on the other hand are maintaining diplomatic relations with Iran.

President Joe Biden recently reversed a Trump-era move that had listed Yemen’s rebel Houthis as a terrorist group, a move that has angered the UAE and Saudi leadership.

After fist-bumping Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Friday, the Kingdom’s de factor leader, Biden sought to dismiss claims that he is ignoring the kingdom’s human right abuses.

 “I said, very straightforwardly, for an American president to be silent on an issue of human rights is inconsistent with who we are and who I am,” Biden said, according to The Associated Press. “I’ll always stand up for our values.”

US intelligence had concluded that the crown prince approved the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a U.S. –based writer, four years ago. But Biden said Prince Mohammed claimed that he was “not personally responsible” for the death. “I indicated I thought he was,” the president said he replied, The Associated Press reported.