US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Saturday promoted a missile shield to protect Gulf Arab states from Tehran and sought to work with them to help end the violence in Iran’s ally Syria.
In a speech to a first multilateral Gulf-US security forum, Clinton stressed Washington’s “rock solid and unwavering” commitment to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Oman, all longstanding US allies. In her prepared remarks, Clinton highlighted US concerns about Iran and talks with Gulf Arab foreign ministers ahead of a broader international meeting in Istanbul aimed at ending President Bashar al-Assad’s crackdown in Syria. Raising security ties from a bilateral to a multilateral level, Clinton is breaking new ground here in taking part in the first strategic cooperation forum between Washington and the six-country Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). She looked to taking “practical and specific steps to strengthen our mutual security, such as helping our militaries improve interoperability, cooperate on maritime security and missile defence, and coordinate responses to crises.” US officials have said it is a US “priority” to help the GCC build a “regional missile defence architecture” against what they see as a looming ballistic missile threat from Iran. Clinton said she looked “forward to discussing the wide range of common strategic concerns, including preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon and curbing its interference in the affairs of its neighbours.”
In Clinton’s talks here on Friday with King Abdullah and Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal, the two sides discussed ways to tighten the sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme, another State Department official said.
“They talked about keeping the global oil supply strong, and the essential role Saudi Arabia plays in that,” the official said.
