President Barack Obama
President Barack ObamaReuters

President Barack Obama will welcome the six leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council kingdoms in mid-May for talks on Iran's nuclear program and the conflicts in Yemen, Iraq and Syria, AFP reported on Friday.

The White House said the May 13 meetings at the White House and May 14 gathering at Camp David "will be an opportunity for the leaders to discuss ways to enhance their partnership and deepen security cooperation."

The meeting was announced in early April by Obama, who is seeking to reassure Gulf states following a framework accord reached on Tehran's nuclear program earlier in the month.

Arab governments have been expressing their concern about the terms of a potential nuclear deal with Iran. The major Sunni states, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, have said that a final agreement could allow Shiite-dominated Iran, their regional rival, to keep the technologies needed to produce nuclear weapons.

Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, recently said that Iran should not be given “deals it does not deserve”.

The Arab concern over the deal with Iran is actually shared with Israel, as Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has repeatedly warned against the framework agreement.

The concern in Saudi Arabia over the nuclear deal with rival Iran is so great that a columnist in a Saudi-controlled government newspaper recently expressed support for Netanyahu’s warnings against a deal with Iran.

(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)