RIYADH: Secretary of State John Kerry called yesterday for US-Saudi ties to stay “on track” ahead of talks with Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia, after Saudi anger over US policy in the region flared into the open.
The top US diplomat was hastily dispatched to Riyadh to patch things up after rare complaints from the top Saudi leadership emerged in recent weeks.
Kerry acknowledged things were tough as the region is rocked by the turmoil of the Arab Spring, which is reshaping the geopolitical landscape.
“Right now we have some very important things to talk about to make certain the Saudi-US relationship is on track, moving forward and doing the things that we need to accomplish,” he told US embassy staff in Riyadh.
The upheaval sweeping parts of the Middle East has witnessed the rise of powerful new extremist groups in Libya and Syria, with Iran accused of fomenting unrest to aid Syrian President Bashar Al Assad in his 31-month battle against rebel forces.
Saudi Arabia, locked in a decades-long rivalry with Iran, is concerned that proposed Syrian peace talks could leave a Tehran-backed regime in place in Damascus and that a breakthrough in nuclear negotiations could also lead to a US rapprochement with its arch foe.
Kerry paid tribute to the conservative oil-rich kingdom’s traditional role in the region, praising the Saudis as “really the senior player in the Arab world.”
Washington and Riyadh shared many current concerns, he said, highlighting the difficult transition in Egypt, the war in Syria and Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
“I particularly wanted to have the opportunity to visit with his majesty the king,” Kerry told staff of the American mission in Riyadh’s diplomatic quarter.
He repeated US assurances that Iran “will not get a nuclear weapon” after stressing a day earlier, in a veiled warning to Tehran, that Washington would stand by its friends. AFP
