Reuters:  Gates to discuss Iran pressure during Saudi visit

Defense Secretary Robert Gates arrived in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday to discuss efforts to put pressure on Iran, stabilize Yemen and to urge the Saudis to engage with Iraq ahead of the U.S. withdrawal.

Gates, fresh from a three-day visit to Afghanistan, also may discuss Kabul’s attempts to pursue reconciliation with Taliban insurgents.

U.S. defense officials, briefing reporters ahead of the trip, said Gates will meet King Abdullah and discuss U.S. efforts to impose sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program.

“The Secretary will provide an update … about where we are in our Iran policy, as we’ve pivoted from the engagement track to the pressure track,” said the official, who asked not to be named.

The United States has expanded land- and sea-based missile defense systems in and around the Gulf to counter what it sees as Iran’s growing missile threat, and arms sales to Gulf allies have risen sharply in recent years.

Saudi Arabia bought $3.3 billion in U.S. arms in fiscal 2009, according to a Pentagon estimate. U.S. officials did not expect new sales to be announced during Gates’s trip.

“It’s not lost on the Iranians, all of the security cooperation that’s been going on for years now and all the systems that have been purchased over the last several years, (are) all designed to counter-weight and protect against the growing threat posed by Iran,” Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said.

NYT:  Gates in Saudi Arabia to Discuss Iran

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates arrived here on Wednesday for talks with the Saudi royal family that senior defense officials said would be focused on Iran.

His visit follows recent trips to Riyadh by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton as well as Gen. David H. Petraeus, the head of United States Central Command, and Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The talks are to include discussions about United States military cooperation with Saudi Arabia in building up its air and missile defense. Mr. Gates is to provide an update to Saudi officials, who are intensely concerned about Iran’s nuclear program, on the American-led effort to impose new sanctions on Tehran.

Mr. Gates is to meet with King Abdullah and Crown Prince bin Abd al-Aziz Al Saud over dinner at the king’s farm outside Riyadh.

He arrived in Saudi Arabia from Afghanistan, where earlier on Wednesday he told an assembled phalanx of the Afghan National Army that “this is your country and ultimately your fight to win.” But confusion soon broke out over when the Afghan forces would be ready to do most of the fighting on their own.

AP:  Gates keeps up pressure on Iran with Gulf visit

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates was keeping up the pressure on Iran on Wednesday, consulting with the United States’ closest and most influential ally in the Persian Gulf about how to respond to Iran’s disputed nuclear program.

U.S. officials said Gates would discuss shared concerns over Iran’s nuclear intentions and ballistic missile program during meetings with Saudi King Abdullah and senior leaders.

Gates arrived in the Saudi capital after three days in Afghanistan. He nearly crossed paths with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was in Kabul on Wednesday for meetings with many of the same leaders Gates had just seen.

Gates accused Iran of “playing a double game” in Afghanistan, and working to undermine the security U.S. forces are trying to help build.

Afghanistan is just one of the places where the United States has a proxy fight with Iran, and the confrontation appears to be getting nastier. The Obama administration has all but written off hopes for a diplomatic opening with Iran after three decades of enmity.

Last week, the top American commander in the Middle East, Gen. David Petraeus, said Iran had gone from being a “theocracy to a thugocracy” in its crackdown on a reform movement following last year’s elections.

Bloomberg