Obama: Gulf countries must work together, despite differences

U.S President Barack Obama said Gulf countries in the Middle East must be able to work together despite their differences, whether that is dealing with Iran or maintaining a stable, unified government within a country such as Iraq.

“The prosperity and stability of the region depends on countries treating all their citizens fairly and that sectarianism is an enemy of peace and prosperity,” Obama told reporters following the U.S.-Gulf Cooperation Council Summit. “If people are seeing themselves not as a citizen of a country, but as a member of a particular branch of Islam, that is a recipe for countries falling apart.”

Years of frustration among Gulf countries, aggravated by more recent stumbles, may have made Saudi Arabia and its regional allies less receptive to Obama on his fourth and likely 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.

“I think it is no doubt true, that when we entered into negotiations with Iran around the nuclear deal, that there was in concern in the interest of getting the deal done we would somehow look the other way in respect with their destabilizing activities,” Obama said.

“What the GCC has seen is our continued cooperation in for example interdicting Iranian efforts to arm the Houthi movement, militias inside Yemen.”

The United States remains deeply enmeshed in Gulf security, cooperating closely with the monarchies to strengthen their armed forces and share intelligence aimed at countering Islamist militant groups.

“We have to be effective in our defenses and hold Iran to account where it is acting in ways that are contrary to international rules and norms, but we also have to have a capacity to enter in a dialogue to reduce tensions and identify ways in which the more reasonable forces inside of Iran can negotiate with the countries in the region, with its neighbors, so that we don’t see an escalation of proxy fights across the region,” Obama said after the summit.

The 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, marked “Iran”, 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.

In keeping with a noticeably low-key approach by Saudi Arabia’s government, however, neither that photo opportunity, nor the GCC meeting’s opening statements, were broadcast on live television, as has often been the case before.