Blinken, Arab ministers at Israel summit
STORY: Blinken, who is on a three-nation Middle East and North Africa tour, on Sunday (March 27) met with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett who tested positive for coronavirus early on Monday. A State Department spokesperson said Blinken was considered a close contact and would get tested.
The summit, dubbed historic by Israel and the four Arab nations attending - Bahrain, Egypt, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates, comes as U.S. allies in the Middle East raise concerns over what they see as a lack of commitment by President Joe Biden's administration to the region.
Washington has repeatedly said it remains deeply invested in the region but its focus has been elsewhere - strategically on China and in the near-term on Russia's invasion of Ukraine which started on Feb. 24 and has killed thousands.
Blinken has sought to reassure allies over Iran. Speaking in Jerusalem alongside his Israeli counterpart Yair Lapid, Blinken said on Sunday that restoring a 2015 nuclear deal was the best way to rein in Iran's nuclear programme.
But Gulf Arab allies as well as Israel remain concerned.
The nuclear talks between world powers and Tehran had been close to an agreement several weeks ago until Russia made last-minute demands of the United States, insisting that sanctions imposed on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine should not affect its trade with Iran.
After talks with Blinken, Israeli Prime Minister Bennett, who has cautioned that a nuclear deal with Iran would not be binding on Israel, said he hoped Washington would be attentive to regional concerns.
Arab and Israeli nations are expected to discuss how to advance their ties after three of the four countries attending normalized ties with Israel through the so-called Abraham Accords brokered by the Trump administration in 2020.
