“Secret Meeting” of the US, Israel and Arab Countries to Counter Iran Threat

The Wall Street Journal reported on a “secret meeting” between the US, Israel and several Arab countries in the Middle East region to discuss ways to counter Iran’s advances in drone and missile technology. This unprecedented meeting was held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.

The Wall Street Journal reported on a “secret meeting” between the US, Israel and several Arab countries in the region to discuss ways to counter Iran’s drone and missile threat. This unprecedented meeting was held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.

On Sunday, June 26, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing American and regional sources, that officials from this country in a secret and unprecedented meeting with senior Israeli military officials and several Arab countries in the region examined options in March in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt to counter Iran’s growing missile and drone capabilities.

This is the first time such a spectrum of senior Israeli officers and Arab countries’ officials have met under the supervision of the US Army to discuss how to confront a common threat.

In its report, the Wall Street Journal stated that while such military cooperation would have been unthinkable decades ago, Israel and its neighbors discussed and negotiated about “possible joint military cooperation” in the initial phase of the Sharm El-Sheikh meeting.

According to the American newspaper, several contextual changes provided the groundwork for holding this meeting: shared concerns about the missile and drone capabilities of the Islamic Republic, improved political relations as a result of the “Abraham Accords” and the decision of the previous US administration to expand the area covered by the US Central Command in the Middle East, which also includes Israel.

This is while officials of the Islamic Republic had previously announced that joint military activities of Israel and some Arab countries in the Persian Gulf are carried out “in desperation.”

According to what the Wall Street Journal published, in this meeting General Frank McKenzie – then commander of US Central Command, Avi Kohavi – Chief of the Israeli Army General Staff, Fayyadh bin Hamed Al-Ruwaili – Chief of the Saudi Armed Forces General Staff and a number of senior military officers from the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan and Qatar participated.

General McKenzie had previously announced that Iran is the most important threat at the regional level and his country’s focus is on countering Iran’s threats.

Meanwhile, some of the countries present at the Sharm El-Sheikh meeting refrained from commenting to the Wall Street Journal about this meeting, and some also denied their participation.

Only the Abu Dhabi government stated: “The United Arab Emirates is not a party to any military alliance or regional cooperation aimed at a specific country, and is not aware of any formal discussion regarding such a regional military alliance.”

According to sources aware of the Wall Street Journal, participants in the Sharm El-Sheikh talks reviewed hypothetical scenarios to identify and jointly defend against air threats and reached agreement on different methods of notification when identifying air threats.

The newspaper announced the next step as gaining the support of political leaders to formulate notification arrangements and determine the interests of Middle Eastern leaders in expanding cooperation.

News of the secret meeting between the US, Israel and Middle Eastern Arab countries, which was held in March of this year, was published by the Wall Street Journal nearly three months later, when recently King Abdullah II of Jordan spoke of the idea of forming a military alliance similar to NATO in the Middle East.

Recently, Israel’s defense minister also told parliament that Israel is establishing a regional air defense coalition with US support.

On the other hand, Joe Biden, the President of the United States, is scheduled to visit Israel and Saudi Arabia in mid-July. He is also scheduled to meet with Mahmoud Abbas, the head of the Palestinian Self-Governance in the West Bank.

In this trip, Joe Biden, in addition to visiting and discussing with officials of the aforementioned countries, will also participate in a joint meeting of leaders of the Persian Gulf littoral states, Egypt and Jordan.

Source: DW