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GCC won’t get written defense guarantees at Camp David

Former Pentagon official says formal defense treaty with GCC is “not in the cards” at next week’s summit.
Helicopters fly from the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) during a resupply mission with the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) in this U.S. Navy handout picture taken in the Gulf of Oman April 13, 2015 and released April 20, 2015. The U.S. Navy sent the carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt and its escort cruiser, USS Normandy, from the Gulf into the Arabian Sea on Sunday.  Army Colonel Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, denied reports the ships were on a mission to intercept Iranian arms

United Arab Emirates (UAE) Ambassador Yousef al Otaiba said May 7 that the UAE and other members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) “need something in writing” from the United States to better guarantee their security in the wake of an anticipated nuclear agreement with Iran.

But GCC members, whose leaders are scheduled to attend a summit with President Barack Obama at Camp David on May 14, will not get NATO-like assurances of automatic US aid, said Derek Chollet, who was assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs until the end of 2014.

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