WASHINGTON — The Gulf states will for the first time
participate in a U.S.-led exercise designed to stop Iran from obtaining
ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons.
Officials said at least two of the six GCC states have agreed to
participate in an international naval exercise in the Gulf at the end of
October. They said Bahrain and Kuwait would contribute naval platforms and
other assets in attempt to coordinate non-proliferation efforts in the Gulf.
"The participation of the GCC in such an exercise is a major achievement
and reflects the growing regional concern of Iran as a nuclear power," an
official said.
The exercise would be based in Bahrain, which hosts the U.S. Fifth
Fleet, Middle East Newsline reported. Bahrain is located about 120 kilometers from the Iranian coast.
Officials said the exercise, scheduled for Oct. 31, would be within the
framework of the U.S.-led Proliferation Security Initiative, a group of 66
members formed to monitor and intercept shipments of weapons of mass
destruction from North Korea to Iran and Syria. This would be the first PSI
exercise in the Gulf, with ships practicing interdiction near the Iranian
coast.
The four other GCC states — Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United
Arab Emirates — have not relayed their approval to participate in the PSI
exercise. Officials said the UAE could join the exercise as an observer.
Officials said the exercise would begin with a simulation at Fifth Fleet
headquarters in Bahrain. They said commanders from the GCC as well as
Britain, France and the United States would respond to a scenario in which a
North Korean ship laden with WMD material was headed for the Gulf region.
The United States has sought to include GCC countries in security
missions in the Gulf. Earlier this year, Pakistan headed an international
task force and urged the six Gulf Arab states to participate.
"The combination of Iranian actions — support for terrorism,
specifically for Hizbullah and Hamas; their nuclear actions; and their wider
policy to the Arab world — amount to Iran bursting into the region over the
last 13 months in an attempt, in essence, to destabilize the established
order and to rearrange the power relationships in the region,"
Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns told the Council on Foreign Relations
on Oct. 11.
"There's no question that there is no greater challenge to
America's vital interests in the Middle East than making sure that we're
able to blunt the current diplomatic and military and terroristic and
nuclear offensive."
