Do more in Iraq, US defence chief tells GCC

US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter pleaded yesterday for greater Gulf financial and political involvement in Iraq, which is battling both Islamic State militants and an economic crisis. Carter made the comments after meeting in Riyadh with his counterparts from the six-nation Gulf Co-operation Council. “I encourage our GCC partners to do more, not only militarily as the Saudis, as the UAE have been doing - and I really appreciate that - but also politically and economically,” Carter told reporters after the talks. He said support for “multisectarian governance and reconstruction” will be critical to ensuring the defeat of IS, the extremist group which has seized large parts of Iraq and Syria. Iraqi Kurds, mostly Sunnis who have an autonomous region in the country’s north, have received training to fight IS from a US-led coalition whose warplanes are bombing the militants in Iraq and Syria. Saudi Arabia and other Gulf nations are part of that coalition but Carter called on them to exert diplomatic support as well, by re-opening embassies in Baghdad. Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Iraq presented his credentials in January, re-establishing relations a quarter-century after they were cut following ex-president Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait. The US would like the Gulf states to help in Iraq’s reconstruction. Joint patrols to block Iran arms to YemenGulf countries and the US have agreed to carry out joint patrols to stop any Iranian arms shipments reaching Yemen, the GCC Secretary-General, Abdullatif al-Zayani, said yesterday. Zayani was speaking at a news conference with US Defence Secretary Ash Carter after a meeting between Carter and his counterparts from the GCC, which includes Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Oman.