WASHINGTON – Senior Biden administration officials kicked off a week of meetings in Riyadh on Monday to discuss the next steps Arab Gulf states can take to build an effective defensive bulwark against Iran.

US special envoy for Iran Robert Malley, the Pentagon’s Middle East policy chief Dana Stroul and the State Department’s acting director for counterterrorism Christopher Landberg are leading working groups with officials and military generals from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman.

Other US officials from the White House National Security Council, State Department and Pentagon are also participating in the meetings, which will focus on the Biden administration’s next steps vis-a-vis Iran, building regional integrated air and missile defense, maritime security cooperation and counterterrorism.

“There will be talk about concrete action that everyone needs to take; not just what the United States is going to do — but what our partners are also willing to put into the game,” a senior US defense official told reporters ahead of the meetings.