John Kerry meets Gulf allies on Syria, Iran

US secretary of state John Kerry met with Gulf Arab officials on Saturday to ease their concerns about warming US-Iranian ties and seek consensus on which Syrian opposition groups should be represented at upcoming peace talks.

Speaking after meeting in Riyadh with foreign ministers from the Gulf Cooperation Council who have sided with Saudi Arabia in its spat with Iran and who back the rebels fighting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar Assad, a key Iranian ally, Mr Kerry and Saudi foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir presented a united front.

They said the US and the GCC agreed on the need to confront destabilising Iranian activities in the region and on an unspecified “understanding” that will allow the UN-led Syria negotiations to begin next week as planned.

“Let me assure everybody that the relationship between the United States and the GCC nations is one that is built on mutual interest, on mutual defence and I think there is no doubt whatsoever in the minds of the countries that make up the GCC that the United States will stand with them against any external threat,” Mr Kerry said.

Mr Al-Jubeir denounced Iran for its “hostile and aggressive stance” against Arab nations. But he said he did not believe that US would act rashly in dealing with Tehran because of the nuclear deal.

Meanwhile, Syrian armed rebel groups said on Saturday that they held the Syrian government and Russia responsible for any failure of peace talks to end the country’s civil war, even before negotiations due to start in Geneva next week.

Mr Kerry said he was confident the talks set for January 25 would go ahead next week. But negotiations look increasingly likely to stall with a dispute over the composition of the Opposition negotiating team, and demands that Russia halt its airstrikes.