Rice, Gates in Egypt to seek Arab front against Iran

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US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice attends a conference in Sharm-el-Sheikh.

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, July 31 (AFP): US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defence Secretary Robert Gates kicked off a regional tour in Egypt Tuesday seeking to unite Arab allies against Iran's "destabilising" influence.
The rare joint trip, preceded by the announcement of a multi-billion-dollar military aid bonanza for Washington's friends in the region, will also seek help to stabilise Iraq and bolster the US-backed Baghdad government.
"As security permits we hope more states would undertake more diplomatic missions to Iraq," Rice told journalists on her way to the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, appealing also for further Iraq debt forgiveness.
Arab diplomatic missions in Baghdad have scaled back their representation following a campaign of attacks and kidnappings.
Sweetening its expected demands, Washington Monday said it would hand out billions in advanced weaponry to so-called moderate Arab states whose foreign ministers the US duo is due to meet.
"We will have a chance to talk about what initiatives we might undertake with our friends and allies in the security and political areas," Rice said. "We are very concerned to be able to provide for the security of our long-standing allies in the region."
The new military pacts are worth 20 billion dollars (14.6 billion euros) for Saudi Arabia, 13 billion dollars for Egypt and 30 billion for Israel in a bid to counter Iran.
"We are working with these states to fight back extremism and to give a chance to the forces of moderation and reform," Rice said, dismissing Iran's charges that the arms package would create fear and harm relations between countries in the Middle East.
"I think if there is a destabilisation of the region, that can be laid at the feet of an Iranian regime that is engaging in the kind of activities that I just outlined," she said.
Earlier, she accused Iran of fuelling terrorism in Lebanon, backing Shiite militias in Iraq, aiding Hamas in the Palestinian territories and harbouring ambitions of acquiring nuclear weapons.
But Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini accused the US of having always had "a special policy of spreading fear in the region and tarnishing existing good relations" between countries in the Middle East."
And the Islamic republic's Defence Minister, Brigadier General Mostafa Mohammad Najjar, accused the US of "trying to create a false arms race, in order to keep their weapon factories up and running."
But he also said it was up to individual Muslim states to decide which weapons to purchase, which in any case would simply bolster the Islamic world.
"Iran is absolutely not worried about any friendly and brotherly Muslim nation consolidating their defence abilities, and it sees their increasing their defence abilities as a part of the Islamic world's defence capabilities."