WASHINGTON - Ahead of US President Barack Obama's meeting with the heads of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries later this month, Washington has received signals that they want major new weapons systems and security guarantees from the White House in exchange for backing a nuclear agreement with Iran, according to American officials.
Officials at the White House, the Pentagon and the State Department have been meeting to discuss everything from joint training missions for American and Arab militaries to additional weapons sales to a loose defence pact that could signal that the United States would back those allies if they come under attack from Iran.
"The demands underscore what complicated diplomatic terrain Mr. Obama is navigating as he drives toward one of his top foreign-policy goals, and they demonstrate how a nuclear deal with Iran aimed at stabilising the Middle East risks further militarising an already volatile region," The Wall Street Journal said in a dispatch.
President Obama will meet with leaders from GCC — Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates — on May 13 in Washington and then host them at Camp David retreat on May 14.
“The gathering will be an opportunity for the leaders to discuss ways to enhance their partnership and deepen security cooperation, the White House has said.
The report said, "Gulf leaders have long sought to bolster their military arsenals, but the requests pose problems for US officials who want to demonstrate support for Arab allies, many of whom host American military bases, while also ensuring Israel maintains a military advantage in the region. "Any moves by Mr. Obama to meet Arab leaders’ requests could face headwinds in Congress and new friction with Israel, given the continuing negotiations on an Iran nuclear deal."
“I’m very worried that President Obama will promise every military toy they’ve always wanted and a security agreement short of a treaty, with the understanding they have to be sympathetic to this deal,” said Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican who is a staunch support of Israel like many others in Congress.
“If I get a hint of that, a whiff of that, then I would do everything I could to block every bullet and every plane.”
Congressman Eliot Engel of New York, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said White House officials have indicated that President Obama is seriously considering Arab leaders’ requests and he’d be shocked if some of them weren’t granted.
“These countries are in the most vulnerable geographical areas, and I think they have a legitimate concern about Iran,” said Engel, who has discussed the requests with Arab officials in recent weeks. But, he said, “We have to make sure that Israel’s qualitative military edge is kept.”
The Persian Gulf countries say they need more drones, surveillance equipment and missile-defence systems to combat an Iranian regime they see as committed to becoming the region’s dominant power. The Gulf States also want upgraded fighter jets to contain the Iranian challenge, particularly the advanced F-35, known as the Joint Strike Fighter.
A senior US official played down chances the administration would agree to sell advanced systems such as the F-35 fighter to those nations—though the planes will be sold to Israel and Turkey—because of concerns within the administration about altering the military balance in the Middle East.
Sales of such advanced equipment would also likely run into opposition from pro-Israel lawmakers who have the power to block transfers, the official said.
"The challenge Mr. Obama faces at Camp David is to assuage growing fears among those Sunni countries that want military superiority over Shiite-dominated Iran, while not undermining long time US security guarantees to Israel," the Journal said.
"Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar share Israel’s concern about a nuclear deal with Iran, but haven’t diplomatic ties with Tel Aviv. A top concern among the Gulf nations and Israel is the expected unshackling of Tehran’s finances under the nuclear agreement that the U.S. and five other world powers are seeking with Iran by a June 30 deadline."
The outlines of the nuclear agreement, announced last month in Switzerland, call for lifting international sanctions on Iran in exchange for curbs on its atomic work for at least a decade. Under terms being discussed, the US and its allies would also be required eventually to release more than $100 billion of Iran’s oil revenues now frozen in overseas bank accounts.
Reaching a common position between the Gulf States and the Obama administration is a difficult task, the US and Arab officials say. The Obama administration has at times differed from Saudi Arabia and the UAE in gauging the level of Iranian support for political rebellions in countries such as Yemen and Bahrain.
More recently, Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies launched airstrikes on insurgents in Yemen, who they argue are receiving arms and funds from Iran—something Tehran denies.
On Tuesday, tensions flared when Iranian warships confronted a Marshall Islands-flagged cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz, prompting the deployment of a US Navy destroyer to the area and stepped-up US measures to protect American commercial vessels.
A White House statement in advance of Mr. Obama’s GCC meeting said the session is designed for the leaders to “discuss ways to enhance their partnership and deepen security cooperation.”
Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE are already some of the largest arms buyers in the world. Last year, Riyadh purchased $80 billion worth of weapons, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, which tracks the global arms business. The UAE bought $23 billion.
Vali Nasr, a former adviser to President Obama who is now dean of the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, said that the administration had already made moves to reassure the Arab allies — most notably by supporting Saudi-led airstrikes against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen and by moving an aircraft carrier group to the Yemeni coast. The warships were meant as a show of force to turn back an Iranian convoy, which American officials said they suspected, was trying to deliver weapons to the Houthis.
“Remember, our dog in the fight in Yemen is Al Qaeda, not the Houthis,” Nasr was quoted as saying in The New York Times. "Moving the carrier group to back the Saudis “wasn’t about Yemen. It was about alliance management.”