The US formed a naval coalition to protect navigation in a region critical to global oil supplies after tanker attacks.
Representatives from more than 60 countries – including Israel but not Iran – continued meeting in Bahrain on Tuesday to discuss maritime security following attacks on tankers in the Gulf and Saudi oil installations.
The United States, other Western states, and Saudi Arabia blame the attacks on Tehran, which denies any involvement.
“We all must take a collective stand … to take the necessary steps to protect our nations from rogue states,” Bahraini Foreign Minister Khaled bin Ahmed al-Khalifa told the two-day meeting on Monday
Although it does not have relations with Bahrain, Israel is attending the gathering.
In June, the Jewish state was represented at a workshop in Manama on the economic component of Washington’s as yet unrevealed Middle East peace plan.
“This meeting comes at a critical moment in history,” US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo wrote in a letter to the meeting’s participants.
“The proliferation of weapons of mass destruction [WMD] and their means of delivery, whether by air or sea, poses a serious threat to international peace and security,” he wrote.
“Together, we must all be committed to taking the necessary actions to stop countries that continue to pursue WMD at great risk to all of us,” Pompeo said, in an apparent reference to Iran.
Tension between Tehran and Washington has grown since the United States abandoned a multinational deal on curbing Iran’s nuclear programme last year and reimposed heavy sanctions on the Islamic republic.
“Together, we must all be committed to taking the necessary actions to stop countries that continue to pursue WMD at great risk to all of us,” Pompeo said, in an apparent reference to Iran.
Iran, which considers itself the guardian of the Gulf, has presented its own regional plan to assure “energy security” and “freedom of navigation”.
