Arab countries are in talks with the US for a new security agreement to protect the Middle East from "external aggression", Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said Sunday (December 9th), AFP reported.
"The aim is to achieve security arrangements in the Middle East that can protect the region from external aggression... and strengthen relations between the US and the countries of the region," Jubeir said.
The Saudi minister was talking at a news conference at the end of a Gulf Co-operation Council summit in Riyadh.
Asked about reports of talks on the creation of an Arab-US military alliance against Iran, he said: "Talks are continuing between the US and the Gulf states around this question and ideas are being drawn up."
"It is a work in progress and the two parties want to see it happen," al-Jubeir said, adding that the alliance would include Egypt and be called the Middle East Strategic Alliance, or MESA.
