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Obama meets with top Saudi official on Iran

by Jordan Fabian - 07/17/15 2:33 PM ET

President Obama met with with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir at the White House on Friday to discuss the nuclear deal with Iran.

The two leaders welcomed the agreement, which “will effectively cut off all of Iran’s pathways to a nuclear weapon and verifiably ensure that Iran’s nuclear program is exclusively peaceful going forward,” the White House said in a statement.

It was Obama’s first in-person meeting with a U.S. ally from the Persian Gulf since the deal was struck late Monday.

{mosads}The White House has launched an aggressive lobbying campaign to sell the deal at home and abroad. The president is trying to address the concerns of Saudi Arabia and other Arab allies, which have expressed skepticism toward the deal.

In May, Obama sought to reassure Gulf states with new joint security measures, including accelerated arms sales and counterterrorism cooperation.

Obama and al-Jubeir “discussed efforts underway to further enhance the close and long standing partnership between our two countries and build Saudi Arabia’s security capabilities,” according to the White House.

Saudi King Salman requested that Obama meet with his top diplomat during a phone conversation Tuesday, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter will travel to Saudi Arabia and Israel next week to discuss defense cooperation with the two governments.

As Iran’s chief Middle East rival, the Saudis fear that billions of dollars in sanctions relief will embolden Tehran as it seeks to bolster its influence in the region.

They have also expressed concern the agreement won’t cut off Iran’s path to a nuclear weapon, and some Saudi officials have talked of pursuing their own nuclear program to counter their neighbor’s.

After a meeting with Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday, al-Jubeir gave a noncommittal statement about the Iran deal.

“We hope that the Iranians will use this deal in order to improve the economic situation in Iran and to improve the lot of the Iranian people and not use it for adventures in the region,” he said, according to The Associated Press.

Obama and al-Jubeir also discussed ongoing conflicts in Yemen and Syria, where Iran is involved. Tehran is a top ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whom the U.S. has called on to step aside amid a bloody civil war.

And Iran-backed Houthi rebels helped drive the government in Yemen out of the capital. The U.S. backed a Saudi air campaign against the Houthis earlier this year. The Yemeni government was a top counterterrorism ally of the U.S.

Tags Adel al-Jubeir John Kerry Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia–United States relations