U.S., Gulf States Review Iran Nuclear ‘Threat’

Reuters: The United States and Gulf Arab states are discussing ways of pressuring Iran over a perceived threat from Tehran’s nuclear and missile program, the top U.S. diplomat in charge of disarmament said Sunday.
U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton told reporters in Bahrain
he was trying to coordinate policies on Iran with its Gulf Arab neighbors, and that Washington sought a “peaceful and diplomatic solution.” Reuters

MANAMA – The United States and Gulf Arab states are discussing ways of pressuring Iran over a perceived threat from Tehran’s nuclear and missile program, the top U.S. diplomat in charge of disarmament said Sunday.

U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton told reporters in Bahrain he was trying to coordinate policies on Iran with its Gulf Arab neighbors, and that Washington sought a “peaceful and diplomatic solution.”

“We discussed ways of putting additional diplomatic pressure on Iran to prevent it from acquiring the technology they need for nuclear weapons program, and also elaborated the steps we see coming in the future,” Bolton said.

Washington accuses Tehran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian atomic energy program — a charge Iran denies.

“We want to get the views of some of the countries most threatened by nuclear-capable Iran,” said Bolton, who has already visited Kuwait and will also travel to the United Arab Emirates during his visit to the oil-rich region.

“The central purpose of discussion in these three countries is to exchange views on the threat that we see posed by Iran’s nuclear weapon program and its ballistic missile program.”

Iran has said it would continue to improve its missile capability and has unveiled the latest version of its medium-range Shahab-3 that it says could hit targets up to 2,000 km (1,250 miles) away.