PressTV-US ramps up plans to forge Arabic anti-Iran alliance

The United States is planning a high-level meeting with Arab leaders in January to speed up forging an alliance that is mainly aimed at confronting Iran, a senior US official has confirmed.

US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Arabian Gulf Affairs Tim Lenderking has been touring the region over the past weeks in a bid to muster enough support to form the Middle East Strategic Alliance (MESA), a concept similar to an Arab NATO.

The idea of forming an alliance that comprised the (Persian) Gulf Cooperation Council– Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman—along with the US, Egypt and Jordan, and addressed security, economic and political issues was first floated during US President Donald Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia last year, Lenderking said.

“The more we have coordinated efforts, the more effective in enhancing stability,” he told Emirati website The National on Wednesday, calling Iran the “number…

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