Following the signing of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action last year, the United States has been attempting to assure its Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) allies that this will not open the way to Iranian-US rapprochement. “My view has never been that we should throw our traditional allies overboard in favor of Iran,” President Barack Obama has publicly declared. In this vein, Obama is scheduled to soon arrive in Saudi Arabia, which is set to host a GCC summit, gathering the organization’s other member states, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
“How Obama can push the Saudis to talk to Iran,” Hossein Mousavian, Al Monitor, April 19, 2016.