Jordan Times
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
AI calls for urgent
measures to assist Iraqi refugees
By Linda Hindi
AMMAN (AFP) — US Defence Secretary Robert Gates
arrived in Jordan on Monday at the start of a Middle East tour which American
officials said is aimed at countering Iran's growing influence in the region.
Washington wants Egypt and Jordan to offer more support for the government of
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki at international meetings, a senior defence
department official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
It is also seeking greater opposition to Iran's controversial nuclear programme
and to Iranian support for Hizbollah in Lebanon, the official added.
In Amman, Gates will meet King Abdullah and senior officials for talks on
regional developments but "Iran in particular", the official said.
"He's going to want to look and see what King Abdullah has to say about Iran."
Arms sales to the region will also be high on the agenda.
In Egypt, where Gates is due on Tuesday, he will urge President Hosni Mubarak's
government to consider the purchase of modern weaponry and focus on
"counterterrorism and the non-state actors that we are all working together
against in the region", the official said.
He will later seek to reassure Israel over the planned US sales of advanced
weaponry to Saudi Arabia, while pointing out that the exact package is still
under consideration, the official said.
Gates himself said he would hold talks with King Abdullah on "how we can
contribute to his [peace] efforts and how the Jordanians can contribute to ours,
not just in Iraq but in Lebanon [and] the Palestinian peace process".
"Jordan has always been an ally of the United States," Gates told reporters on
the plane to Amman. "The Jordanians have for a long time been a very
constructive influence and I look forward to continuing that." Throughout the
tour the defence secretary will seek support for the Gulf Security Dialogue, an
umbrella framework for talks between the United States and the oil-rich Gulf
Arab states.
The talks are focused on "common concerns about Persian hegemony in the
region... [and] involvement of Shiite political movements in some countries, and
how to mitigate that, and how to respond to that collectively", said the senior
military official.
"The best way to confront Iran is to confront Iranian behaviour in Iraq," the
official added. The trip will focus on "how we can work with strategic allies in
the region" to achieve that goal.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday his country would not give
in to Western demands over its nuclear drive, vowing that Tehran would "resist
to the end".
The UN Security Council has imposed sanctions on Iran over its refusal to
suspend uranium enrichment, and the Islamic republic faces further punitive
measures if it does not comply.
The United States has refused to rule out the option of military force to bring
Iran to heel should sanctions fail to work.
Tehran last week said that its uranium enrichment work was now at an "industrial
scale," although international observers have cast doubt over what stage its
nuclear programme has reached.
"The Iranian people will stand firm on the nuclear issue to acquire all their
rights, will continue solidly to reach the summits of perfection and will raise
their fists to insist on their rights," Ahmadinejad said.
In a typically pugnacious speech in the southern city of Shiraz, broadcast live
on Iranian state television, Ahmadinejad also warned world powers not to misuse
the UN Security Council.
"Give up your bullying methods! Otherwise rest assured that you will lose and
you will impose great losses on your nations. What did you gain in Iraq, what
did you gain in Palestine and Lebanon?" he asked.