Saudi king pulls out of Gulf meetings in US

Saudi Arabia's king will not attend this week's crunch meetings in Washington with President Barack Obama in an apparent signal of discontent over the US's proposed nuclear deal with regional rival Iran.

King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud will send the crown prince, interior minister Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, to attend the summit in his place, the state news agency reported late on Sunday.

The Saudi foreign minister, Adel al-Jubeir, said King Salman had decided to remain in Riyadh to focus on the scheduled five-day ceasefire in Yemen from May 12. After weeks of air strikes against Iran-allied Zaydi Shia rebels, Saudi Arabia has come under pressure to ease the humanitarian crisis in the war-ravaged country.

King Salman, 79, has recently travelled to other important foreign meetings, such as an Arab summit in Egypt last month and attended the G20 meetings in Australia last November as crown prince. Mr Obama met King Salman in Riyadh to pay his condolences after the death of the late King Abdullah in January.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef has taken greater oversight of foreign affairs since Prince Saud al-Faisal was replaced by Mr Jubeir, the former Saudi ambassador to Washington, in sweeping reshuffle last month.

Concerns in the Gulf have been growing over the prospective US deal with Iran over its nuclear deal.

This week's Camp David meetings were supposed to provide Mr Obama with the opportunity to explain the US position and repair frayed relations with the Gulf states.

Only the leaders of Qatar and Kuwait are now scheduled to attend. Bahrain's king has also deputised his crown prince, Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, to lead the delegation. The leaders of the United Arab Emirates and Oman are unwell.

Arab states, led by Saudi, fear that an unwinding of sanctions will embolden Tehran to expand its regional interference via proxies in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen.

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Gulf states are also aggrieved that the US did not take military action against the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad, an Iranian ally.

Gulf officials have said they hope to secure greater assurances from the US that Washington remains committed to its historic role as the guarantor of Gulf security.

Gulf states are seeking more advanced military equipment, including the F-35 warplane and advanced armed drones, whose sale to the Gulf may raise alarm in Israel.

But the US and other western allies say they are committed to the region's security.

The US, for example, has helped the Saudi-led coalition launch weeks of air strikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen, providing intelligence and arms for the offensive.

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