Arab Leaders Revolt Against Iran Nuke Deal -The Obama Narrative That Israel Poses the Only Opposition Goes Up in Smoke

Arnold Ahlert / Canada Free Press

There appears to be a small problem with President Barack Obama’s summit of Persian Gulf states taking place at Camp David on Thursday: Arab leaders want virtually nothing to do with it. Only the emirs of Qatar and Kuwait, two out of the six leaders of countries that comprise the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), will attend. The point man of the apparent snub is Saudi Arabian monarch King Salman, who took power in January after his brother, King Abdullah, died. Salmandecided not to attend at the eleventh hour, despite Obama promising him a separate meeting,described by sources in Riyadh as a “photo op” aimed at convincing an American audience that Saudi Arabia and other Arab states are on board with Obama’s determination to secure a deal with Iran. They aren’t.

Both sides tried to downplay the apparent rift. White House Secretary Josh Earnest insisted feedback from the Saudis has been “positive,” and that if this is an attempt to send a message “that message is not received.” Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir agreed. “This is not related in any way, shape or form to any disagreement between the two countries,” he said. “I think this idea that this is a snub because the king did not attend is really off base. This is an extremely high-level delegation. It has absolutely the right people to represent the kingdom,” he added, referring to interior minister Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, and the king’s son and defense minister Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman who will attend in the king’s place. Jubeir insisted the king was staying behind to deal with the cease fire in Yemen, and the humanitarian aid effort taking place there.

Other senior Arab officials involved in organizing the meeting were more straightforward, telling theWall Street Journal there wasn’t enough progress being made in reconciling the differences between Obama and the Saudi monarch with regard to Iran and Syria to make the king’s visit worthwhile. “There isn’t substance for the summit,” said an Arab official who had spoken in recent days with the Obama administration..

Also staying away is Bahraini king Hamad bin Issa, who was aided by Saudi Arabia in snuffing out an Arab Spring revolution by that nation’s Shi’ite majority population; Sheik Khalifah of the United Arab Emirates, who was the first GCC leader to turn down Obama’s invitation only hours after it arrived; and Sultan Qabus of Oman, despite the reality the Omani government helped Obama arrange and host secret talks with the Iranian mullahs beginning in 2013.

Iranian-born author Amir Taheri minces no words when he explains the reasons for what he characterizes as a “boycott” of the summit. They center around the well known reality that the president of the United States is an unabashed narcissist “who genuinely believes he is always right, does not listen to anybody,” Taheri explains. This turns the Camp David meeting into an exercise “designed only as an occasion to admire Obama’s strategy and celebrate his ‘historic achievement’ in accepting Iran’s position as a ‘threshold nuclear power.’”

Taheri further insists Arab leaders already know what Obama is going to say, with one Arab official speaking on condition of anonymity offering up the president’s ultimate intention. “Obama made it clear he wanted an accord with Iran under any circumstances,” the official told Taheri.

The official further revealed Obama’s rationale, noting the president told him that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s negotiators had “made concessions that no other government in Tehran would ever offer again.” Obama also assured the official he would make a “presidential statement” warning the world’s foremost sponsor of state terror not to threaten its Arab neighbors’ security and integrity.

Yet by far the most disturbing revelation offered up by this official has an equally disturbing familiar ring. He insisted Obama envisions a deal with Iran that would be constructed in a way that would not require the approval of Congress. Instead the president would submit a draft resolution to the United Nation’s Security Council whose five permanent members—the United States, Russia, China, France and Great Britain—comprise five of the six P5+1 nations (Germany is the other) who have put the deal with Iran together.