CAIRO: Both US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates were in Sharm El Sheikh Tuesday in a meeting between GCC countries, Egypt and Jordan to get them onside in a unified stance against other forces in the region led by Iran. The visit was preceded by an American promise of greater arms sales to these countries, in addition to Israel which is due to receive the lion's share of the arms increase. "This is not an issue of quid pro quo. We are working with these states to fight back extremism, Rice told reporters on the way to the meetings, "and to give a chance to the forces of moderation and reform. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini told reporters in Tehran that the US "is creating fear and concerns in the countries of the region and trying to harm the good relations between these countries. "I think if there is a destabilisation of the region, that can be laid at the feet of [the] Iranian regime, Rice responded. "There isn t a doubt that Iran constitutes the single most important single-country strategic challenge to the United States and to the kind of Middle East that we want to see, she added. Rice indicated that the forces the US perceive as threats to the region are Syria, Hezbollah, Al Qaeda and Iran. Iran's Defence Minister, Brigadier General Mostafa Mohammad Najjar, said the US was "trying to create a false arms race, in order to keep their weapon factories up and running. "Iran is absolutely not worried about any friendly and brotherly Muslim nation consolidating their defence abilities, and it sees their increasing their defense abilities as a part of the Islamic world s defense capabilities, he added. The Guardian's Middle East Correspondent Brian Whitaker wrote that "the US is arming two of the Arab world s leading human rights abusers: Saudi Arabia and Egypt. "If the Bush administration s goal was to inflame Sunni-Shia tensions across the region and to spread the sectarian strife in Iraq to neighbouring countries, it would be hard to imagine a more effective way of going about it, he added. Both US officials will head to Saudi Arabia after Sharm El Sheikh before splitting up and making separate trips in the region. "For the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense to travel together to any region, including the Middle East, at a minimum is very rare, if not unprecedented, Gates told reporters, "I think that it is a statement first of all of the importance of this region in terms of US vital interests and the importance we attach to reassuring our friends out here of our staying power.
