ABU DHABI, Dec 18: US-allied Gulf leaders examined proposals for a nuclear-free zone in the world’s top oil-producing region during summit talks on Sunday. Delegates said Syria’s standoff with the United Nations over the killing of former Lebanese premier Rafik al-Hariri was also discussed during the meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which groups Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman and Qatar.

The six leaders, who will resume talks on Monday before issuing a final communique, hope to defuse mounting tension in a region already affected by instability in Iraq and militant attacks by supporters of Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda network.

“The international community is calling for an end to the spread of weapons of mass destruction. This has become a global demand,” Youssef bin Alwai bin Abdullah, the Omani minister responsible for foreign affairs, told reporters shortly before the talks ended for the day.

Earlier, GCC Secretary-General Abdul Rahman al-Attiya said the leaders were very worried about Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

“We trust Iran but we don’t want to see an Iranian nuclear plant which is closer in distance to our Gulf shores than to Tehran causing us danger and damage,” he said.

Attiya had said one of the proposals on the agenda was for a deal to be brokered between Iran and neighbouring GCC states to make the region nuclear-free.

“As Iranian officials say the programme is for peaceful purposes, why can’t an agreement come into effect between all countries concerned and which could include Iraq and Yemen in the future?

“This will pave the way for a Middle East agreement which Israel could eventually become part of,” he said.

“This will prompt the international community to press Israel to open its (nuclear sites) for inspection.”

Israel has never acknowledged it has a nuclear weapons programme but is widely believed to have about 200 nuclear warheads.

Tehran says its nuclear programme is for energy, but many fear it plans to develop atomic weapons. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s verbal salvoes at Israel, including his call for the Jewish state to be wiped off the map, have also caused alarm.

—Reuters