Special to WorldTribune.com

WASHINGTON — The United States, amid its rapprochement with Iran, plans to lead a defense seminar with the Gulf Cooperation Council.

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel was scheduled to leave Washington on May 12 to participate in the U.S.-GCC defense ministers parley in the Saudi city of Jedda.

Officials said Hagel would seek to advance U.S. plans to integrate GCC forces, particularly in the area of ballistic missile defense.

“The ministerial is designed to strengthen multilateral security cooperation in the region focusing on enhanced GCC coordination on air and missile defense, maritime security, and cyber defense,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said.

The meeting was scheduled amid a rift within the six-member GCC. In March 2014, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates withdrew their ambassadors from Qatar, accused of harboring exiled leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Officials said the GCC session would be the first with the United States since 2008. They said Hagel, a longtime proponent of a U.S. rapprochement with Teheran, would pledge help to the GCC amid Iran’s missile and nuclear threat.

“It is also an opportunity for the secretary to underscore U.S. security
commitments in the Middle East and to reinforce the United States’
unstinting policy of preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon and
further destabilizing the region,” Kirby said.

GCC sources have complained that the administration of President Barack
Obama failed to follow up on proposals to help integrate Gulf Arab forces.
They cited U.S. restrictions on data sharing with the GCC, deemed vital for
BMD and other military cooperation.

From Jedda, Hagel was scheduled to fly to Jordan, a base for more than
1,000 U.S. military personnel. Israel was meant to be the last Middle East
stop for the defense secretary.

“The secretary and [Israeli Defense] Minister [Moshe] Ya’alon will
discuss critical regional and bilateral security issues, including the
United States and Israel’s cooperation on rocket and missile defense,” Kirby
said.

  GCC, Hagel heads to Saudi Arabia to reassure nervous Gulf allies, John Kirby, Moshe Ya’alon, Pentagon