US seeks to reassure Gulf states over Iran deal

While US President Donald Trump has indulged in his usual hyperbole to describe the US-Iran deal as achieving “everything we set out to accomplish,” Gulf leaders are far more circumspect about the likely implications, especially what it means for freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s nuclear ambitions. There is a widely held view among Arab Gulf leaders that the deal broadly favors Iran and there are concerns that the excessive concessions Trump made to secure the deal will ultimately help strengthen Tehran and reshape the region’s security balance and oil flows.