Saudi Arabia, U.S. discuss missile defense system against Iran

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Obama administration is seeking to advance talks among Saudi Arabia and its neighbors on a missile defense system against Iran, while slowing any plans among Arab Gulf states to intervene militarily in Syria.

According to AP, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton met for almost two hours with Saudi King Abdullah on Friday, March 30 conferring on regional military strategy and how to increase oil sanctions against Iran while ensuring ample global petroleum supplies. Governments are under pressure to reduce purchases of Iranian crude, and the U.S. hopes Saudi supplies can ease the transition.

The talks are occurring amid increased international concern over Iran's uranium enrichment activity and speculation that military action by the U.S. or Israel may occur. The U.S., Israel and some Arab countries accuse Iran of trying to build nuclear weapons, but the Islamic republic insists its program is solely for peaceful energy and research purposes.

In Washington, President Barack Obama said Friday he was plowing ahead with potential sanctions against countries that keep buying oil from Iran, including U.S. allies, in the deepening campaign to starve Iran of money for its nuclear program. The world oil market is tight but deep enough to keep the squeeze on Iran, Obama said.

U.S. officials didn't provide all the details of Clinton's meeting with Abdullah, which included an hour when the two spoke privately without any aides present. They expressed a shared commitment to a stable international oil market, senior State Department officials said, outlining the discussions on condition of anonymity.

America's top diplomat and the Saudi monarch also discussed coordination among the Arab Gulf states on how to unite their defensive capacities into a cohesive regional strategy. Despite sensing a shared threat from Shiite power Iran, wide technical and political divisions separate the Sunni countries, which span the oil-rich kingdoms of Qatar and the United Arab Emirates to impoverished Yemen.

The United States is already planning to sell defensive missile technology to the UAE, which along with Saudi Arabia ranks among the more advanced militarily. But Washington wants the big and small Gulf governments to reconcile their distrust of each other and develop a united long-term missile defense architecture.