Rubio faces tough task of selling Iran reset to wary Gulf allies

 U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio faces a delicate mission this week pitching Washington's Iran peace deal to Gulf Arab leaders who fear excessive concessions will ​strengthen Tehran and reshape the region's security balance and oil flows, Reuters reported.

Rubio will meet them in the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday, before traveling to Kuwait and Bahrain, where ‌he will meet officials from the Gulf Cooperation Council, a grouping of monarchies that also includes Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Oman.

At issue are elements of a draft agreement that include no limits on Iran’s ballistic missiles, a proposed $300 billion reconstruction fund and provisions that could expand Tehran’s regional influence and control over critical oil shipping lanes.

All six GCC nations are strategic U.S. allies that offered some degree of logistical support to Washington during the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran that ​began four months ago and all were buffeted by Iranian airstrikes as a result.

Some of those countries are feeling privately disappointed - and surprised - by an interim deal that could open the door ​to U.S. normalization with Iran, a predominantly Shi'ite country that most Sunni GCC states consider their main adversary.

The opinions of these nations matter to U.S. ⁠policymakers.

The UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain all host U.S. military bases that in turn make up the backbone of America's security architecture in the Middle East. Should any of those countries rethink ​their security relationship with the U.S., even in a subtle way, it could have a significant impact on U.S. military strategy in the region.

For Rubio personally, the trip requires a balancing act.

While America's top diplomat ​needs to assuage regional allies, he must do so without appearing to criticize the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding. President Donald Trump, who signed the accord last week, remains firmly behind it despite criticism from some of his fellow Republicans in Congress who have accused the administration of capitulating to Tehran.