Pompeo on Middle East tour to counter Iran, boost Netanyahu

Top US diplomat Mike Pompeo sought Wednesday to bolster a united front against Iran during a Middle East tour that will include talks with key ally Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of Israeli elections.

The US secretary of state kicked off his regional tour in Kuwait where he met Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al-Sabah on the first stop of a trip that will also take him to Israel and Lebanon.

Pompeo told reporters on the flight from the United States that he would discuss "strategic dialogue" and the need to combat "the threat posed by the Islamic Republic of Iran" with leaders in the region.

After Kuwait Pompeo will fly to Israel where an election campaign is in its final weeks with Netanyahu locked in a close battle with centrist rivals.

Pompeo is also pushing for a greater role for the Middle East Strategic Alliance (MESA), a US-sponsored Arab NATO aimed at uniting Washington's Arab allies against Tehran.

"We all have the same set of threats, threats from Al-Qaeda, from (the Islamic State group), threats from the Islamic Republic of Iran," Pompeo said at a joint press conference with Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Khaled Al-Sabah.

Pompeo urged Qatar and Saudi Arabia, both members of MESA, to bury the hatchet in a political dispute over regional policy that has split the two powerful Gulf states.

"It's not in the best interest of the region," Pompeo said of the Saudi-Qatari rift. "It's not in the best interest of the world."
"Leaders will change in both countries over time," Pompeo said before landing in Kuwait. That relationship matters no matter who the leaders are."
"That'd be a good start."
"And we think it's very accurate, and we stand behind it."