U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson pushed for Saudi Arabia and Iraq to unite to counter growing Iranian assertiveness and called for a quick resolution to the crisis between Qatar and its Arab neighbors. According to him, the crisis was unintentionally reinforcing Iran, the Associated Press reports.
Tillerson criticized Iran’s malign behavior and sent a message to the nations in the region and elsewhere to join the administration to halt the business with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, which plays a major role in Iran’s economy and was recently added to a U.S. terrorism blacklist. According to the Secretary, Iranian and Iran-backed Shi’ite militia in Iraq should return to their homes or integrate into the Iraqi army.
“Those fighters need to go home. Any foreign fighters need to go home,” Tillerson said.
The Secretary of State was in Riyadh for the inaugural meeting of the Saudi Arabia-Iraq Coordination Council. He told Saudi King Salman and Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi that the developing partnership between these two countries is a big promise for the reconstruction of Iraq.
“We believe this will in some ways counter some of the unproductive influences of Iran inside of Iraq,” Tillerson said.
He expressed hope that European companies, countries, and others around the world would join the U.S. as they put sanctions in place to prohibit activities of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. Tillerson praised the opening of a major border crossing and the resumption of direct flights between Riyadh and Baghdad.
“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. Your growing relationship between the kingdom and Iraq is vital to bolstering our collective security and prosperity and we take great interest in it,” Tillerson said at the council meeting.
He pointed that Iran is the only country benefiting from the crisis between Qatar and Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. Tillerson said that Qatar’s new reliance on Iranian airspace is the most immediate and obvious gain that Iran has.
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