TILLERSON CALLS ON SAUDI, IRAQ TO ISOLATE IRAN
DOHA— US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson took the Trump administration’s case for isolating and containing Iran to two Gulf Arab nations on Sunday, pushing for Saudi Arabia and Iraq to unite to counter growing Iranian assertiveness.
He also called for a quick resolution to the ongoing crisis between Qatar and its Arab neighbors, which he said was unintentionally bolstering Iran.
‘Malign behavior’
In Saudi Arabia and later Qatar, Tillerson denounced Iran’s “malign behavior” and urged nations of the region and elsewhere, notably Europe, to join the United States to halt any business they did with Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard.
He also demanded that Iranian and Iran-backed Shiite militia in Iraq either return to their homes, integrate into the Iraqi Army or leave the country.
Foreign fighters
“Those fighters need to go home,” Tillerson said.
In Riyadh for the inaugural meeting of the coordination council formed by Saudi Arabia and Iraq, Tillerson told Saudi King Salman and Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi that the partnership between their countries held great promise for Iraq’s reconstruction after devastating battles to wrest territo- ry from the Islamic State group.
“We believe this will in some ways counter some of the unproductive influences of Iran inside of Iraq,” he said.
Shun Revolutionary Guard
Tillerson said other countries should also shun Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, which played a major role in Iran’s economy and was added to a US terrorism blacklist this month.
Shiite-majority Iraq and Sunni-led Saudi Arabia, estranged for decades after Saddam Hussein’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait, have tried in recent years to bridge their differences.