Pompeo begins Mideast tour amid Arab intervention plan

Rasa - US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has embarked on a tour of the Middle East in a bid to muster support for President Donald Trump's proposal to form an Arab military force to replace American troops in Syria.

News ID: 437410

Date: 29 April 2018 - 20:35

RNA - Pompeo met with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh on Saturday, though the content of their discussions was not released.

The US secretary of state was expected to meet Saudi King Salman on Sunday and then fly on to the occupied territories to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He will also travel to Jordan for talks with King Abdullah II.

The trip comes as the Trump administration is reviewing US involvement in the Syria conflict after repeatedly complaining about the cost and duration of the military intervention in the Middle East.

Last December, he lamented Washington’s waste of money in the Middle East wars, tweeting, “After having foolishly spent $7 trillion in the Middle East, it is time to start rebuilding our country!”

Earlier this month, Trump called on Washington’s allies, “including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Egypt, and others” to form an Arab force to replace the US military in Syria.

"America does not seek an indefinite presence in Syria under no circumstances. As other nations step up their contributions, we look forward to the day when we can bring our warriors home," he said.

Pompeo's Middle East tour also comes amid a Saudi-led campaign to hold Qatar's feet to the fire over Doha's refusal to submit to the kingdom's steep demands.

On Saturday, the New York Times wrote, "As Saudi Arabia considers digging a moat along its border with Qatar and dumping nuclear waste nearby, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in Riyadh on his first overseas trip as the nation’s top diplomat with a simple message: Enough is enough."

Last June, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates led an embargo by four Arab nations of Qatar, accusing the tiny, gas-rich nation of funding terrorism, cozying up to Iran and welcoming dissidents. According to the NY Times, years of perceived slights on both sides of the conflict added to the bitterness.

On Tuesday, Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said Qatar must pay for the US military presence in Syria if it wants to sustain Washington’s support.

“Qatar has to pay for US military presence in Syria and send its military forces there, before the US president cancels US protection of Qatar," Jubeir said in a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency.

Another important issue on Pompeo's agenda is Riyadh's bid to normalize ties with Israel.

Early this month, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said Riyadh and Tel Aviv had “a common enemy” and that they could immediately normalize their relations once the Palestine issue was resolved.

Those remarks came after the young crown prince broke with tradition to declare that Israelis, like Palestinians, have the “right” to have “their own homeland”, practically recognizing Israel for the first time.

Pompeo's trip also comes two weeks before a deadline set by Trump to decide whether to reinstate sanctions against Iran which were lifted under the 2015 nuclear agreement, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Reports said Washington's new chief diplomat was to meet Saudi and Israeli leaders on Sunday to rally coordinated opposition to Tehran and brief them on Trump's threat to end the Iran nuclear deal.

According to Press TV, Pompeo made his first overseas trip as the new secretary of state earlier this week, traveling to the Belgian capital, Brussels, for a NATO foreign ministers' meeting.

He said in Brussels on Friday that “no decision” has yet been made on whether Trump will withdraw from the JCPOA, adding, however, that unless changes are made, the US president is “unlikely to stay in that deal."

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