White House looks to ease Arab fears

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is scrambling for reassurances that it can present this month at a Camp David summit meeting to persuade Arab allies that the United States has their backs, despite a pending nuclear deal with Iran.

White House, Pentagon and State Department officials have been meeting to discuss actions from joint training missions for U.S. and Arab militaries — more likely — to additional weapons sales to a loose defense pact that could signal that the United States would back those allies if they come under attack from Iran.

At a Pentagon dinner two weeks ago, Defense Secretary Ash Carter polled a select group of Middle East experts for advice on how the administration could placate Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, all of which fear the nuclear deal, according to several dinner attendees.

Mr. Carter wanted to know “how do you make clear to the [Gulf Cooperation Council] that America isn’t going to hand the house keys of the Persian Gulf over to Iran and then pivot to Asia?” said one Middle East expert at the dinner. The council includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

On April 20, during a White House lunch with President Barack Obama, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the United Arab Emirates’ foreign minister, pressed for a defense pact with the United States, according to a senior administration official. The president, in turn, sought support from the Emirates for the Iran nuclear deal that Secretary of State John Kerry is negotiating.

Administration officials said Mr. Obama had not settled on what to offer, but that there were several possible options, most of them difficult to pull off. A security treaty with Saudi Arabia and the other countries is unlikely because that would have to be ratified by Congress and would probably run into opposition from Israel and its Capitol Hill supporters.

But instead of a fullfledged security treaty — such as the one the United States has with Japan ensuring that it will come to the Asian nation’s defense — the administration is discussing offering a looser, less-binding defense pact. In the deal envisioned, U.S. officials would put in writing, but not send to Congress, language agreeing to the defense of Arab allies if they come under attack from outside forces. Such a pact would not apply if the governments came under attack from political opponents within their own countries, since the last thing the administration wants is to get involved in future uprisings such as the Arab Spring.

There is not much time left to come up with something. Mr. Kerry is to meet next week with the Arab countries’ foreign ministers to prepare for the Camp David meeting May 14, and he will be expected to foreshadow what kind of package the administration is willing to offer. If he does not have anything that satisfies the gulf allies, they may downgrade their attendance at Camp David. Saudi Arabia, for example, could send its crown prince, Mohammed bin Nayef, instead of King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud Salman, in what would widely be interpreted as a rebuff of Mr. Obama.

Another option the administration is considering is whether to make Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates “major non-NATO allies,” a designation that would loosen up restrictions on weapons sales. The designation falls short of a defense pact, but does grant a number of military advantages now available only to NATO allies.