(MENAFN- The Peninsula) US President Barack Obama is expected to make a renewed US push next week to help Gulf allies create a region-wide defence system to guard against Iranian missiles as he seeks to allay their anxieties over any nuclear deal with Tehran, according to US sources.
The offer could be accompanied by enhanced security commitments, new arms sales and more joint military exercises, US officials say, as Obama tries to reassure Gulf states that Washington is not abandoning them.
With little more than a week to go before Obama hosts the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council at the White House and then at Camp David, aides are discussing the options in pre-summit meetings with Arab diplomats. Officials say no final decisions on possible US proposals have been made.
Obama is likely to press Gulf allies to do more to integrate their disparate militaries and work toward a long-delayed anti-missile shield against an Iranian ballistic missile threat, the sources familiar with the discussions said. This could take the form of a new high-level joint working group led by the Pentagon, a source said.
Gulf countries have already bought US missile defence systems such as the Patriot system built by Raytheon Co and the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defence system built by Lockheed Martin Corp. But the Obama administration is now expected to press them to implement the initiative touted in late 2013 by then-secretary of defence Chuck Hagel.
The programme allows the GCC to purchase equipment as a bloc and start knitting together radars, sensors and early warning networks with US assistance but has been held up by distrust among some of the Gulf monarchies.
The Obama administration is concerned about shortcomings in the Gulf states' joint operational capacity exposed by a Saudi-led bombing campaign in Yemen that has failed to push back Iran-allied Houthi fighters.
It was unclear specifically what Washington would offer the Gulf nations - which already operate some of the most evolved US-made weaponry - in order to advance the missile shield. Lingering rifts between GCC members would need to be put aside before a joint missile system would be viable. Experts now believe the time is ripe for greater cooperation because of deteriorating security across the region.
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