Pompeo heads to UAE after talks with Bahrain leaders

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held closed-door meetings Wednesday with Bahrain’s royal family and plans others with top officials in the United Arab Emirates amid the Trump administration’s push for Arab nations to recognize Israel.

Pompeo already traveled to Israel and Sudan on this trip through the Mideast, one that included him offering a recorded message in Jerusalem supporting President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign for the Republican National Convention. That speech cast aside his own advice to American diplomats to be apolitical and bulldozed a long tradition of non-partisanship by previous secretaries of state.

In Manama, Pompeo tweets that he met with King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and his son, Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, on Wednesday morning.

“We discussed the importance of building regional peace and stability, including the importance of Gulf unity and countering Iran’s malign influence in the region,” Pompeo writes.

Pompeo also says he discussed efforts to “advance greater unity among Gulf countries.” That’s as his plane flew over Qatar on its way to the United Arab Emirates, one of four Arab nations along with Bahrain now boycotting Doha over a yearslong political dispute. Typically, Bahraini and Emirati aircraft avoid Qatari airspace as they’ve closed their own airspace to Qatar Airways.

Met today with Crown Prince of Bahrain, His Royal Highness Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa. We discussed the importance of building regional peace and stability, including the importance of Gulf unity and countering Iran’s malign influence in the region.

— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) August 26, 2020

— AP