DOHA: US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson took the Trump administration's case for setting apart and containing Iran in the Middle East and beyond to 2 Gulf Arab international locations, pushing for Saudi Arabia and Iraq to unite to counter rising Iranian assertiveness.
He also called for a fast answer to the continuing crisis between Qatar and its Arab neighbours, which he said was accidentally bolstering Iran.
In Saudi Arabia and later Qatar, Tillerson denounced Iran's "malign behaviour" and recommended international locations of the region and elsewhere, notably Europe, to enroll in the administration to halt any trade they do with Iran's tough Revolutionary Guard Corps. He additionally demanded that Iranian and Iran-backed Shiite armed forces in Iraq both go back to their homes, combine into the Iraqi army or depart the rustic.
"Those fighters need to go home," Tillerson said. "Any foreign fighters need to go home."
In Riyadh for the inaugural assembly of the Saudi Arabia- Iraq Coordination Council, a car that US officials consider can wean Iraq from Iran, Tillerson advised Saudi King Salman and Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi that the nascent partnership between their countries held great promise for Iraq's reconstruction after devastating battles to wrest territory from the Islamic State staff and its independence from foreign affect.
"We believe this will in some ways counter some of the unproductive influences of Iran inside of Iraq," he said at a information conference with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir after the council assembly.
Tillerson said countries out of doors of the region could additionally play a job, basically by shunning the Revolutionary Guards, which play a significant position in Iran's economy and have been added to a U.S. terrorism blacklist previous this month. Companies and countries that do trade with the guards "really do so at great risk," he said.
"We are hoping that European companies, countries and others around the world will join the US as we put in place a sanctions structure to prohibit certain activities of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard that foment instability in the region and create destruction in the region," Tillerson said.
At the council assembly, Tillerson praised the Saudi king and Abadi for the August reopening of a significant border crossing and the resumption of direct flights between Riyadh and Baghdad remaining week.
"Both represent the beginning of what we hope will be a series of even more tangible actions to improve relations and strengthen cooperation on a host of issues," he said.
"Your growing relationship between the kingdom and Iraq is vital to bolstering our collective security and prosperity and we take great interest in it."
His participation in the assembly comes as US officials step up encouragement of a new axis that unites Saudi Arabia and Iraq as a bulwark in opposition to Iran's rising affect from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea.
Amid the push for that alliance, the Iraqi executive is suffering to rebuild lately liberated Islamic State strongholds and confronts a newly assertive Kurdish independence motion.
He also called for a fast answer to the continuing crisis between Qatar and its Arab neighbours, which he said was accidentally bolstering Iran.
In Saudi Arabia and later Qatar, Tillerson denounced Iran's "malign behaviour" and recommended international locations of the region and elsewhere, notably Europe, to enroll in the administration to halt any trade they do with Iran's tough Revolutionary Guard Corps. He additionally demanded that Iranian and Iran-backed Shiite armed forces in Iraq both go back to their homes, combine into the Iraqi army or depart the rustic.
"Those fighters need to go home," Tillerson said. "Any foreign fighters need to go home."
In Riyadh for the inaugural assembly of the Saudi Arabia- Iraq Coordination Council, a car that US officials consider can wean Iraq from Iran, Tillerson advised Saudi King Salman and Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi that the nascent partnership between their countries held great promise for Iraq's reconstruction after devastating battles to wrest territory from the Islamic State staff and its independence from foreign affect.
"We believe this will in some ways counter some of the unproductive influences of Iran inside of Iraq," he said at a information conference with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir after the council assembly.
Tillerson said countries out of doors of the region could additionally play a job, basically by shunning the Revolutionary Guards, which play a significant position in Iran's economy and have been added to a U.S. terrorism blacklist previous this month. Companies and countries that do trade with the guards "really do so at great risk," he said.
"We are hoping that European companies, countries and others around the world will join the US as we put in place a sanctions structure to prohibit certain activities of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard that foment instability in the region and create destruction in the region," Tillerson said.
At the council assembly, Tillerson praised the Saudi king and Abadi for the August reopening of a significant border crossing and the resumption of direct flights between Riyadh and Baghdad remaining week.
"Both represent the beginning of what we hope will be a series of even more tangible actions to improve relations and strengthen cooperation on a host of issues," he said.
"Your growing relationship between the kingdom and Iraq is vital to bolstering our collective security and prosperity and we take great interest in it."
His participation in the assembly comes as US officials step up encouragement of a new axis that unites Saudi Arabia and Iraq as a bulwark in opposition to Iran's rising affect from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea.
Amid the push for that alliance, the Iraqi executive is suffering to rebuild lately liberated Islamic State strongholds and confronts a newly assertive Kurdish independence motion.
Tillerson seeks Arab help to isolate Iran
![Tillerson seeks Arab help to isolate Iran]()
Reviewed by Kailash
on
October 23, 2017
Rating:
