Hagel outlines new weapons sale plan for GCC countries

The US defence secretary outlines the Pentagon’s plan to allow military sales to the Gulf Cooperation Council, so the six-member nations can have more coordinated radars, sensors and early warning missile defence systems.

Chuck Hagel, the US defence secretary, right, is greeted upon arrival to address the International Institute of Strategic Studies conference in Manama on Saturday. Hasan Jamali / AP Photo

MANAMA // The Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel on Saturday opened the door for the US to sell missile defence and other weapons systems to GCC countries, with an eye toward boosting their abilities to counter Iran’s ballistic missiles.

Mr Hagel made it clear that the emerging global agreement that would limit Iran’s nuclear programme did not mean the security threat from Iran is over.

Instead, he laid out steps to beef up defence cooperation in the Gulf region, while at the same time insisting that America’s military commitment to the Middle East will continue.

“I am under no illusions, like all of you, about the daily threats facing this region, or the current anxieties that I know exist here in the Gulf,” Mr Hagel told a security conference attended by regional diplomats, including Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, the UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs.

“These anxieties have emerged as the United States pursues diplomatic openings on some of the region’s most difficult problems and most complex issues, including Iran’s nuclear programme and the conflict in Syria.”

He said the interim deal is just a first step that has bought time for meaningful negotiations, adding that “all of us are clear-eyed, very clear-eyed about the challenges that remain” to reaching a nuclear solution with Iran.

And he pointed to the continuing plan to destroy Syria’s chemical weapons as diplomacy made possible by America’s military threat. He said the US president Barack Obama’s threat to strike Syria after a chemical weapons attack believed to be the work of Bashar Al Assad’s government led to the ultimate deal to remove and destroy the arsenal.

But Mr Hagel argued that the emphasis on diplomacy must not be misinterpreted.

“We know diplomacy cannot operate in a vacuum,” Mr Hagel said. “Our success will continue to hinge on America’s military power, and the credibility of our assurances to our allies and partners in the Middle East that we will use it.”

And, he warned that with America’s sophisticated weapons, “no target is beyond our reach”.

As part of the security effort, he said the US wants to take steps to beef up the Gulf region’s ability to defend itself.

Washington has pushed for more than 20 years, particularly after Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990, for better defences among GCC countries.

Hagel’s speech continued a theme he has repeated over the past two days in private meetings with Gulf leaders. He is countering apprehension in the region that the Iran nuclear deal, coupled with US budget pressures and the drawdown in Afghanistan, could signal a decline in America’s commitment to the region.

The interim Iran agreement carved out less than two weeks ago by major nations, including the US, would freeze parts of Iran’s nuclear programme in exchange for some relief from crippling Western economic sanctions. The deal may open the door to warmer relations with the West, but it has escalated tensions in the Gulf, where leaders worry that it could embolden Iran and destabilise the area.

Mr Hagel’s broader message to Gulf leaders was that while Iran’s nuclear programme is an important worry, its other conventional missile threats, terrorism links and occasional provocative maritime behaviour also greatly concern the US and the region. And those threats are not addressed by the nuclear agreement.

Mr Hagel was challenged at one point during a question-and-answer session by a former Iranian nuclear negotiator over why his address failed to mention Israel’s possession of nuclear weapons. Hossein Mousavian, who is now a scholar at Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, told Mr Hagel he “didn’t mention a single word about the major threat of nuclear bombs in the region, which is Israel.”

Mr Hagel replied by noting that Iran is in violation of “many United Nations resolutions”.

Israel is widely understood to possess nuclear weapons but declines to confirm it.

The most concrete proposal Mr Hagel outlined is the Pentagon’s plan to allow military sales to the Gulf Cooperation Council, so the six-member nations can have more coordinated radars, sensors and early warning missile defence systems. While the US can sell to the individual nations, Mr Hagel is arguing that selling the systems to the GCC will ensure that the countries will be able to communicate and coordinate better.

* Associated Press