U.S. meeting on Middle East brings together Israel, Gulf Arab states


A U.S.-sponsored Middle East conference aimed at building a coalition against what Washington sees as the threat posed by Iran also produced signs of a warming of ties between Israel and some Arab countries on Wednesday.

Foreign ministers and other officials from more than 60 countries were gathering for the conference in Warsaw, which was starting on Wednesday evening and whose agenda included Iran, conflicts in Syria, Yemen and Israeli-Palestinian peace.

On the sidelines, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Oman’s foreign minister.

Arab nations and Israel faced a common threat of Iranian regional aggression and Washington was working closely with these nations to counter this, he said.

“Iran isn’t behaving like a normal country. They have a very expansionist foreign policy and that destabilizes other countries,” said Hook when asked whether the absence of Germany and France’s top diplomats at the meeting mattered.