![\"kerry-hearing-2015-02-24\"](\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/02\/kerry-hearing-2015-02-24.jpg\" "\\"kerry-hearing-2015-02-24\\"")
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U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry began talks with the Gulf states in Qatar on Monday, seeking to convince them of the merits of last month’s nuclear deal with the regime in Iran and to discuss the battle against Islamic State militants and the war in Syria.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Most Gulf Arab states are worried that Tehran’s July 14 accord with Washington and other powers will hasten detente between the two countries and embolden the regime in Iran to support paramilitary allies in the region.<\/p>\n
Last month, world powers agreed to lift sanctions on the Iranian regime in return for curbs on its nuclear program.<\/p>\n
Speaking in Egypt on Sunday, Kerry said the United States had labeled the regime in Iran the world’s number-one state sponsor of terror, but this was precisely why it was so important to ensure Tehran did not obtain a nuclear weapon.<\/p>\n
In Doha, Kerry will meet members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, which groups Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar.<\/p>\n
He will also hold a trilateral meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov and Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir, which U.S. officials say will focus on the war in Syria.<\/p>\n
U.S. officials say Kerry’s diplomatic outreach in Doha is a follow up to a summit with Gulf Arab leaders called by President Barack Obama at Camp David in May, which was snubbed by the leaders of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n
At that meeting Obama responded to anxieties among Gulf states about the nuclear deal with the regime in Iran by vowing to back them against any “external attack” and pledging that the U.S. would consider using military force to defend them.<\/p>\n
Obama stopped short of offering a formal defense treaty that some Gulf countries had sought. Instead he announced more modest measures, including integrating ballistic missile defense systems and beefing up cyber and maritime security.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, the U.S. State Department approved the sale of 600 Patriot anti-missile missiles to Saudi Arabia at an expected cost of $5.4 billion as well as $500 million worth of ammunition for various weapons systems.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry began talks with the Gulf states in Qatar on Monday, seeking to convince them of the merits of last month’s nuclear deal with the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[175],"class_list":{"0":"post-18866","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-iran-a-world","7":"tag-updated"},"yoast_head":"\n