Dubai: Gulf Cooperation Council states wrapped up a summit meeting in Kuwait on Wednesday by agreeing to establish a joint military command, paving the way for tighter security coordination even as their regional rival Iran pursues outreach efforts in the wake of its interim nuclear deal.
The six-member bloc also agreed to lay the foundations for a joint Gulf police force and a strategic studies academy, according to a summary of the group’s closing statement carried by the official Kuwait News Agency.
Taken together, the initiatives suggest that the Gulf states are seeking to do more to ensure their collective security amid the prospect of warmer relations between Iran and the West. The Islamic Republic agreed last month to freeze parts of its nuclear programme in exchange for some relief from Western economic sanctions.
Many in the Gulf remain wary of Tehran’s intentions. Saudi Arabia in particular sees a stronger Iran as a threat to its own influence, and it and other Gulf states are major backers of the rebels fighting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar Al Assad, whose government is backed by Iran.
The Gulf states have nonetheless voiced, at times, cautious support for the nuclear deal — a theme they reiterated as a bloc in Wednesday’s closing statement.
US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel travelled to the Gulf in recent days to reassure long-standing Arab allies. He made clear that the interim nuclear deal does not mean that Washington thinks the security threat posed by Iran is over.
Hagel also outlined steps to increase security cooperation in the Gulf region, where the US deploys tens of thousands of air, land and sea forces, and opened the door to sales of missile defence and other weapons systems to the GCC as a bloc.
His tour followed visits by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif last week to four of the six Gulf nations in an effort to improve ties.
It was not immediately clear when the proposed Gulf military command and joint police force would be formed, how they would be structured or what the extent of their mandates would be.
The summit’s closing statement said a joint defence council would “take necessary measures to put this agreement into effect”, while the joint police force “will boost security and help expand security and anti-terror cooperation and coordination among member states,” according to the Kuwaiti news agency.
The GCC includes Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and the UAE.
Saudi Arabia is the bloc’s largest economy and traditionally sets the political tone for the region. It has pushed for a closer union among the six nations, and led a Gulf military force that deployed in support of Bahrain’s monarchy in March 2011 when it faced down an uprising in the tiny island kingdom.
Riyadh’s push for greater unity has met resistance, however. Oman’s minister responsible for foreign affairs, Yousuf Bin Alawi Bin Abdullah, announced over the weekend at a security conference in Bahrain that his nation would not participate in any formal union among the Gulf monarchies.
