US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo meets Saudi king for Iran crisis talks

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held talks on Monday with Saudi leaders ahead of new sanctions on Tehran in a stand-off sparked by Washington’s withdrawal from a nuclear deal. Both the United States and Iran say they want to avoid going to war, but tensions have spiked after Tehran shot down a US drone and a series of attacks on tankers in sensitive Gulf waters raised fears of an unintended slide towards conflict. Saudi and Emirati leaders advocate a tough US approach against common foe Iran, which on Monday said any new US sanctions against it would have no “impact”. Pompeo met Saudi King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the Red Sea city of Jeddah days after the downing of the surveillance drone prompted US President Donald Trump to order a military strike before calling it off at the last minute. He was later due to hold talks in the United Arab Emirates, US officials said. Pompeo described Saudi Arabia and the UAE as “two great allies in the challenge that Iran presents”. “We’ll be talking with them about how to make sure that we are all strategically aligned and how we can build out a global coalition,” Pompeo said. He said the US sought a coalition “not only throughout the Gulf states but in Asia and in Europe that understands this challenge and that is prepared to push back against the world’s largest state sponsor of terror”. Tehran says the drone violated Iranian airspace and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has backed the claim with maps and coordinates – allegations dismissed by Washington. US media reports said Trump ordered a retaliatory cyberattack against Iranian missile control systems and a spy network after the drone was shot down. But on Monday, Iranian Telecommunications Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi said no cyberattack against his country had ever succeeded. “The media are asking about the veracity of the alleged cyberattack against Iran. No successful attack has been carried out by them, although they are making a lot of effort,” he said on Twitter. Trump says will be Iran’s ‘best friend’ if it renounces nuclear arms He acknowledged that Iran has “been facing cyberterrorism, such as Stuxnet, and unilateralism, such as sanctions”, naming a virus believed to have been engineered by Israel and the US to damage nuclear facilities in Iran. Allies of the US have been calling for steps to defuse the crisis, saying they fear a small mistake on either side could trigger war. “We are very concerned. We don’t think either side wants a war, but we are very concerned that we could get into an accidental war and we are doing everything we can to ratchet things down,” British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said. Trump’s cancellation of retaliatory strikes on Iran over drone attack not sign of ‘weakness’: John Bolton Trump has said he was ready to reach out to Iran if the country agreed to renounce nuclear weapons. Iran has denied seeking a nuclear weapon, and says its programme is for civilian purposes. With the US out of the deal, Iran has said it would reduce some of its nuclear commitments unless the remaining partners – Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia – help it circumvent US sanctions and sell its oil. The landmark 2015 accord sought to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions in exchange for sanctions relief. Opinion: Who would win a US-Iran war? A strong and peaceful China Meanwhile national security advisers from Israel, the US and Russia were set on Monday to begin a two-day summit in Jerusalem, which was expected to focus on the Middle East and particularly Iran – a staunch rival of both Israel and the US. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the meeting as “historic and unprecedented” and said it was “a very important summit for ensuring stability in the Middle East during turbulent times”. US National Security Advisor Ambassador John Bolton, Israeli National Security Advisor Meir Ben-Shabbat and Russian Security Council Secretary General Nikolai Patrushev were set to participate in trilateral and bilateral meetings. According to Russian state news agency TASS, Patrushev highlighted that at the meeting “Russia will take Iran’s interests into account, making them known to the Israelis and the Americans”. He said the meeting would focus on the situation in Syria, where Iran has a presence. Additional reporting by DPA

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo meets Saudi king for Iran crisis talks

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}Pompeo met the Saudi king and crown prince in Jeddah days after the downing of a US drone He described Saudi Arabia and the UAE as ‘two great allies in the challenge that Iran presents’

Pompeo met the Saudi king and crown prince in Jeddah days after the downing of a US drone

He described Saudi Arabia and the UAE as ‘two great allies in the challenge that Iran presents’