RIYADH, Saudi Arabia—President Barack Obama met Thursday with top officials from six Arab nations to discuss regional security issues in the Persian Gulf including the fight against the Islamic State militant group.
The meetings in Riyadh are meant to build on a similar summit convened last year at Camp David, the American president’s Maryland retreat. They reflect an effort by the White House to reassure and coordinate with important but wary Mideast allies that harbor serious doubts about Obama’s outreach to Iran and U.S. policy toward the grinding civil war in Syria.
Obama and officials from the U.S.-allied countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council opened up talks Thursday morning by posing for a group photo. The leaders, meeting around a circular table in an ornate meeting room in the Diriyah Palace, made polite conversation and smiled for cameras, but offered no remarks.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter, Secretary of State John Kerry, National Security Adviser Susan Rice and CIA Director John Brennan also attended the meeting.
The summit follows bilateral talks that Obama held with Saudi King Salman on Wednesday shortly after arriving in the kingdom. Besides Saudi Arabia, the GCC includes the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain.
