US SecDef visits UAE in first Middle East visit

US Marine Corps Gen. Gen. James Mattis, commander of US Central Command; Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Navy Adm. Mike Mullen; and Army Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, commander of US Forces [MC1 Chad J. McNeeley/Wikipedia]

US President Donald Trump’s defence secretary arrived in the United Arab Emirates earlier today for talks with one of Washington’s closest allies in the Middle East.

Defence Secretary Jim Mattis, on his debut trip to the region as Pentagon chief, was expected to meet Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahayan and US embassy representatives. US officials have not disclosed details about his agenda.

In late January, Trump and the Crown Prince spoke by telephone and the White House said they had discussed a proposal for safe zones for Syrian refugees displaced by the conflict.

Mattis, a retired Marine general who is reviewing US war plans against Daesh in Syria and Iraq, is a familiar figure to Gulf Arab rulers.

A former leader of Central Command, which oversees US military operations in the region, Mattis said in his Senate confirmation hearings that Iran was “the biggest destabilising force in the Middle East and its policies are contrary to our interests.”

Such views play well with Gulf Arabs, who hope Trump’s administration will check what they see as a surge of Iranian support for paramilitary Shia jihadist extremist groups in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Lebanon and for fellow Shia coreligionists in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia’s oil-producing Eastern Province.

Nevertheless, the UAE has often enjoyed good working relations with the Iranians and their proxies, including Iranian businessmen connected with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a parallel power structure in Tehran that controls a large, shadowy network of Shia jihadist organisations.

Dubai in particular has been one of the main locations used by the IRGC’s proxy businesses, who set up front operations to bypass sanctions on the Islamic Republic, the majority of which were lifted following the former Obama administration-led diplomatic effort that led to a controversial nuclear deal with Tehran.

The United Arab Emirates is also a key US ally in the fight against Al-Qaeda in Yemen.

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