Years of frustration among Gulf countries, aggravated by more recent
stumbles, may make Saudi Arabia and its regional allies less receptive
to Obama on his fourth and most probably final trip to the kingdom.
Obama starts talks with Gulf leaders aimed at easing strains(Reuters)
U.S. President Barack Obama and Gulf Arab leaders started talks in Riyadh on Thursday at a summit aimed at forging joint action on perceived security threats from Iran and Islamic State, and at ironing out strains in their old alliance.
Obama,
who arrived on Wednesday, hopes to allay Gulf countries' fears over
Iranian influence and encourage them to douse sectarian tensions in an
effort to confront the threat posed by jihadist militants like Islamic
State.
Those issues were addressed in his
bilateral talks on Wednesday with leaders from Saudi Arabia and the
United Arab Emirates, and will dominate again in the summit which
includes the other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members.
Years
of frustration among Gulf countries, aggravated by more recent
stumbles, may make Saudi Arabia and its regional allies less receptive
to Obama on his fourth and most probably final trip to the kingdom.
The
Middle East is mired in a contest for influence between a bloc of
mostly Sunni countries, including the conservative, pro-Western Gulf
monarchies, and revolutionary Shi'ite Iran and its allies.
Most
of the GCC states, which also include Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman,
have been bitterly disappointed in Obama's presidency, during which they
believe the United States has pulled back from the region, giving more
space to Iran.
They were also upset by Obama's
remarks in a magazine interview that appeared to cast them as
"free-riders" in U.S. security efforts and urged them to "share" the
region with Tehran.
For his part, the American
president has said he wants Gulf allies to offer more democratic reforms
and improve human rights, which he discussed with Saudi King Salman on Wednesday.
Adding
to tensions is a bill proposed in U.S. Congress to lift Riyadh's
immunity if any Saudi officials are found to have been involved in the
Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
UNDERLYING STRENGTH
The
United States remains deeply enmeshed in Gulf security, however,
cooperating closely with the monarchies to strengthen their armed forces
and share intelligence aimed at countering Islamist militant groups.
That
underlying strong relationship was underscored in a cartoon published
on Thursday in the pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat, owned by King
Salman's branch of the Al Saud ruling family.
It showed a Shi'ite cleric in black turban and robes sweating with alarm as he read a newspaper headlined "Obama in Riyadh". All the Saudi newspapers published several pages of photographs of Obama's meetings with Salman and other princes.
Obama
and the Gulf leaders joined for a photograph at the Diriyah Palace on
the outskirts of Riyadh before starting the talks. The American
president is expected to make a statement afterwards, before departing
for London.
The region's crises, including civil
wars in Syria, Yemen and Iraq in which the U.S. and Gulf states have
cooperated but still disagree on some issues, will be important areas of
discussion.
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