Middle East nations are embarking on an arms race amid growing concern about America’s commitment to the region where the U.S. military has acted as the local cop, according to the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Sen. Bob Corker, Tennessee Republican, said that some of the region’s leaders are frustrated with U.S. positions in Yemen and Iran and worried that President Obama is pulling back from the area.
“Behind the scenes many of them have expressed great frustration,” he said this week at a media breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor. “There is a lot of concern about the sort of realignment that they see taking place and concerns about just the Iran deal itself,” he said in reference to complaints that the U.S. isn’t playing hardball with Tehran over nuclear weaponry.
Sen. Bob Corker. Michael Bonfigli/The Christian Science Monitor
The failure by key Arab allies in the Middle East to appear at Thursday’s Camp David summit called by President Obama is an indication of that frustration, added Corker, who said that he and his team “bump into these people often.”
Corker revealed that he visited with an “arms producer” in his office this week where he learned of the growing arms race.
“I do think there is an effort in the region now to really begin building up militarily and concerns about U.S. commitments to the region and to various entities that have traditionally been our allies. I think that is real,” said Corker.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
