Originally published in Lobelog

By Robert E. Hunter
AIC Board Member
Former US Ambassador to NATO

It is too early to judge whether the results of last week’s summit between President Barack Obama and leaders of the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries will become “footprints on the sands of time.” The summit did achieve what Obama most needed—the Arabs’ formal endorsement of the P5+1 talks with Iran on the latter’s nuclear program. It also reaffirmed a key goal of the GCC states: US commitment to continue taking seriously their security concerns, focusing on Iran. This included President Obama’s reaffirming America’s “ironclad commitment to the security of our Gulf partners.”