Six Persian Gulf States End Talks on Iranian Threat
Defense ministers from the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council ended two days of secret talks Sunday on a collective defense strategy against stepped-up Iranian attacks on their vital oil tanker sea lanes.
The ministers, from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Oman, would not comment on the specific proposals discussed.
But Arab diplomatic sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the delegates discussed naval patrols in the Persian Gulf and establishing an air umbrella linked to the U.S.-built AWACS radar surveillance planes deployed by Saudi Arabia.
Iran has attacked more than 35 neutral commercial vessels sailing to and from gulf ports in retaliation for the Iraqi air and sea blockade against Iran’s oil terminals.
Council members are officially neutral but have supplied billions of dollars to Iraq in its six-year war against Iran.
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