Washington — US efforts to bolster reassurance to Sunni Gulf allies amid growing prospects for reaching an Iran nuclear deal tried to recover from awkwardness and bruised feelings after Saudi Arabia announced that King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud would not attend a White House-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) meeting May 13-14 after the White House had said he would.

President Barack Obama spoke by phone with Salman on May 11, the White House’s Ben Rhodes said in a conference call with reporters. Saudi Arabia’s new Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said the king’s decision not to attend the summit was “not a snub” to the United States, and noted the decision to send both Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef and the Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — Salman's son and defense minister — was “unprecedented."

At a meeting between Secretary of State John Kerry and GCC foreign ministers in Paris last week, “We went through everything that we thought we should work on in a common fashion,” White House Middle East coordinator Rob Malley told reporters on the White House call May 11.

“Some of them wanted a formal treaty, something we told them weeks ago was not possible. We did not hear any dissatisfaction, though one [GCC member] reminded us they wanted a treaty,” Malley said.