RIYADH: US Secretary of State John Kerry sought on Thursday to ease Gulf Arab concerns about an emerging nuclear deal with Iran and vowed that any agreement reached would not reduce America’s commitment to combating Tehran’s destabilising actions in the Middle East and beyond.

Speaking at a news conference in Riyadh with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal, Kerry said a nuclear agreement would not be part of a “grand bargain” with Iran and that the United States would continue to fully support its partners in the Gulf against Iranian interference.

“We are not seeking a grand bargain,” Kerry said after meeting with the new Saudi monarch, King Salman, and the foreign ministers of the of the Gulf Cooperation Council: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, all of which are Sunni-led states unnerved by Shia Iran’s suspected pursuit of nuclear weapons and its increasing assertiveness throughout the region.

“Nothing will be different the day after this agreement, if we were to reach one, with respect to all the other issues in this region,” Kerry said.

“Even as we engage in these discussions with Iran around its nuclear programme,” the secretary said, “we will not take our eyes off Iran’s other destabilising actions. “Of efforts to forge a framework agreement with Iran on its nuclear program by the end of March, Kerry said, “We have made progress, but there do remain serious gaps that need to be resolved”. “It may be that Iran cannot say yes to the type of deal that provides the assurances that the international community requires”. He alluded to the next round of talks beginning March 15, and said “we expect soon thereafter to know whether Iran will in fact be able to make the tough decision”. Saud said he appreciated Kerry’s pledge that a nuclear deal “would not come at the expense of forgetting everything else that Iran does”. Kerry had underscored the extent of Arab unease with Iran, which is actively supporting fighters in Syria and Iraq and is backing Shia rebels in Yemen, which toppled the country’s government last month, apart from its nuclear ambitions. Asked about Iran’s involvement in fighting in Tikrit, Saud said, “What is happening in Tikrit is exactly what we are worried about. Iran is taking over the country.” Kerry, however, said the Tikrit operation has been Iraqi-led and developed, although he did acknowledge there were Iranian elements involved.

Saud accused Iran of major malfeasance in the Arab world, saying that “it promotes terrorism, it occupies lands.

These are not the features of a country that seeks to improve its relations with its neighbours. “Kerry arrived in Riyadh a day after wrapping up the latest round of Iran nuclear negotiations in Switzerland. He said the Gulf Cooperation Council countries would be invited to Washington in the coming months to discuss improving their security by bolstering their defence partnership with the United States. On Yemen, Kerry said the US supports the peace process led by the UN Yemen is embroiled in a political crisis that threatens to split the country.

The UN-mediated talks are aimed at breaking the political stalemate between the rebels known as the Houthis and Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.

Published in Dawn, March 6th, 2015

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