Sheikh Mohammed meets Barack Obama in Washington

Iran deal, Houthis and ISIL high on leaders’ agenda as tensions in the region rise.

US president Barack Obama shakes hands with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed at the White House on April 20. Susan Walsh/AP Photo

NEW YORK // Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, met with Barack Obama on Monday to discuss US-UAE ties as well as pressing regional security issues, including the negotiations over Iran’s nuclear programme, the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen, and the fight against ISIL.

The US president used the annual talks to lobby for Sheikh Mohammed’s support for a final nuclear deal with Tehran. Saudi and Emirati backing for an accord will be key to its success, but Gulf leaders have yet to be convinced.

They have warned the White House that the lifting of economic sanctions will unshackle Iran’s regional influence, along with its use of proxy forces to destabilise Arab states, and are seeking increased US security assurances to counter the threat.

Mr Obama has said he will formalise a “little bit more” the US-GCC security relationship. The White House and Gulf officials are currently in talks about what these steps will entail, with the goal of finalising them before GCC leaders meet Mr Obama for a two-day summit to discuss Iran next month.

But the fundamentally divergent views between the two sides on the Iranian threat and White House officials’ emphasis on democratic reform as a key to stability, raise questions over whether US assurances will be enough to win Gulf support for a nuclear deal.

Egypt and the civil war in Libya and growth of ISIL across the region will also be on the agenda, along with the Saudi-led Yemen campaign, which the US has supported with intelligence and logistics, but has growing concerns over the strategy to bring about a political solution.

The two leaders met for a working lunch at the White House. Sheikh Mohammed was accompanied by Deputy National Security Adviser Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed, Minister for Foreign Affairs Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, and the Ambassador to Washington, Yousef Al Otaiba. The US secretary of state John Kerry and Mr Obama’s national security adviser Susan Rice also attended.

Despite the differences over Iran, Abu Dhabi is Washington’s key partner in the Gulf as shared security interests have brought them closer. Along with military coordination in the air campaign against ISIL, the two countries have recently established a joint financial counterterrorism task force based in the UAE and a communications hub to counter extremist messaging online.

Over the past decade the UAE has also sought to become an important Middle Eastern economic partner for Washington that goes beyond its position as one of the largest customers of advanced US military hardware. The UAE is now the largest export market for the US in the Middle East, on the back of Emirati airlines purchasing large numbers of Boeing passenger jets.

US airline lobby groups have urged congress to limit access for UAE airlines, which they say receive state subsidies that they cannot compete with, even though the US industry is itself heavily subsidised. The topic was likely on the agenda of meetings with congressional leaders and the UAE delegation.

A major recent investment in the US is the $4.2 billion semiconductor manufacturing plant that is set to open in New York, which is a joint venture between AMD and Advanced Technology Investment Company of Abu Dhabi.

Mr Obama and Sheikh Mohammed also discussed expanding cooperation on clean energy.