Riyadh, March 10: US Defence Secretary Robert Gates flew into Riyadh on Wednesday for talks expected to focus on Iran’s nuclear programme and Washington’s push for tough sanctions against Tehran.
Gates was due to meet King Abdullah as the Obama administration kept up a concerted effort to rally international support for punitive sanctions against Iran, despite misgivings by China and other countries.
The Obama administration has vowed to pile pressure on Tehran to persuade it to abandon its uranium enrichment work.
Saudi leaders have yet to openly embrace Washington’s campaign for more sanctions.
Gates also planned to discuss bolstering Saudi “air and missile defence capabilities,” a defence official said.
The United States has promised to speed up weapons sales to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf allies, which have bought billions of dollars worth of American weapons — including missile defence hardware — in recent years.
The US military is also helping the Saudis train a new interior ministry security force.
“It’s not lost on the Iranians all the security cooperation that’s been going on for years now,” Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell told reporters.
Gates will discuss efforts to fight Al-Qaeda’s branch in neighbouring Yemen, officials said.
There were “still major concerns about the stability of Yemen and the threat posed by Al-Qaeda on the Arabian peninsula,” the defence official said. “It’s a challenge that the Saudis feel acutely sharing a border with Yemen.”
—Agencies