US Secretary of State John Kerry is heading to Egypt and Qatar to meet the foreign ministers of both countries, with a nuclear deal with Iran topping the agenda of the talks.
Kerry, who arrives in Cairo on Saturday, will not be visiting Israel,
Washington’s main ally in the region and the primary foreign opponent of
the Iran agreement.
US officials rejected suggestions that Kerry’s omission of Israel from
the itinerary signalled that the Obama administration had given up
trying to convince Israeli leaders of the merits of the deal, the AP
news agency reported.
The last time Kerry spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
was on July 16, two days after the Iran deal was concluded.
Officials reportedly said the trip was primarily designed to follow-up
on a May meeting that US President Barack Obama hosted for Arab leaders
at Camp David, at which the US tried to ease the worries of its Middle
East allies over Iran.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not
authorised to discuss Kerry’s trip publicly, said the talks in Qatar
would take stock of progress made on those goals, particularly since the
Iran deal was signed.
One US official said that Kerry would use the meeting with the foreign
ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council to “try to respond to any
remaining questions they might have, hopefully satisfy them and ensure
that they are supporting our effort going forward”.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif visited Kuwait, Qatar and
Iraq in a similar tour earlier this week to talk to his counterparts
about the nuclear deal.
Punch
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