WASHINGTON
The U.S. and Saudi Arabia are committed to working together to push back against any extremist enterprises, "including the activities of Iran" in the region, Secretary of State John Kerry said Thursday.
Kerry's remarks comes just days after Iran and world powers singed an historic agreement to curb Tehran's nuclear power program in exchange for sanctions.
Speaking to press conference after his meeting with his Saudi Arabian counterpart, Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir, Kerry said that along with challenges to the security and instability in the region, the U.S. and Saudi Arabia discussed the recently signed nuclear deal with Iran; Syria; Daesh; the challenge in Yemen and what is needed to be done to confront those difficulties.
Kerry expressed his confidence in the ability of the U.S. and Saudi Arabia to continue to strengthen their cooperation and relationship against the challenges.
The U.S. announced Wednesday that Defense Secretary Ash Carter would be in the region next week, including a visit to Saudi Arabia but Kerry said he will follow Carter’s trip with his own travel Aug. 3 to Qatar to meet with GCC countries and conduct a briefing about the Iran nuclear deal.
The six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council is comprised of Arab states in the Persian Gulf including Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Saudi Arabia is committed to "resolutely" confronting Iran should it try to cause mischief in the region after signing the nuclear deal with world powers earlier this week, said Al-Jubeir.
The foreign minister said his country looked forward to the agreement which prevents Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons capability, and continuous inspections to make sure Iran does not violate the terms of the deal.
"We all support the continuation of the sanctions against Iran related to counterterrorism and related to its support for terrorism and other issues," he said.
Saudi Arabia hopes that Iran will use the agreement in order to improve its economic situation and not use if for "adventures in the region," he added.
