Gulf | Saudi Arabia
Obama warns Iran ahead of Mideast visit
US President Barack Obama has warned Iran it has until the end of 2009 to make progress in talks on its nuclear programme.
- By Abdul Rahman Shaheen, Correspondent
- Published: 23:01 June 2, 2009
- Image Credit: AP
- US and Saudi flags flutter on a main road in the Saudi capital Riyadh for Obama's visit. The US president will visit Saudi Arabia today.
Riyadh: US President Barack Obama has warned Iran it has until the end of 2009 to make progress in talks on its nuclear programme.
"Although I don't want to put artificial timetables on that process, we do want to make sure that, by the end of this year, we've actually seen a serious process move forward," he said in a BBC interview ahead of his arrival in Riyadh today.
The president will meet King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz ahead of his keynote address to the Arab and Muslim world in Cairo, Egypt, where he will share his concern over the Arab-Israeli conflict and Iran's rising influence in the region.
"The selection of Saudi Arabia to be the first country to be visited by Obama is a recognition of the major role it plays in maintaining the balance of power and security in the Gulf," Dr Fahd Al Eisa, Professor of International Relations at King Faisal University in Saudi Arabia, told Gulf News.
Saudi officials worry that Obama's overtures to Iran might shift regional relationships at Riyadh's expense.
They also want him to get tough with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has balked at Palestinian statehood.
"Saudi Arabia wants reassurances that Obama is rejecting Netanyahu's statements," said Mustafa Alani, of Dubai's Gulf Research Centre.
"Not only is it in the interest of the Palestinian people to have a state, it's in the interest of the Israeli people to stabilise the situation there," Obama told the BBC.
On Iran, Obama said that "tough, direct diplomacy" would be the best way to curb its ambitions for a nuclear weapon.
Saudi rulers believe the collapse of Middle East peacemaking has given Iran opportunities to expand its reach via the Palestinian group Hamas as well as Hezbollah in Lebanon.
"The Saudis are in a very tough spot," said Rochdi Younsi, a political risk consultant of the Eurasia Group. "On one hand they want the US to pursue a policy of strict containment of Iran. At the same time, they don't want the situation to escalate to an armed conflict."
With inputs from Reuters
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