US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his accompanying delegation arrived in the Kingdom of Bahrain on Tuesday evening from Sudan, as part of a tour in a number of countries in the region, and it is scheduled to meet Bahraini Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa.
Pompeo said in a tweet after his arrival in Bahrain that the region needed the unity of the Gulf states now more than ever "to confront Iran and build lasting peace and prosperity."
Pompeo added that the normalization agreement between Israel and the UAE, which was unveiled about two weeks ago, "shows that peace is achievable."
Pompeo considered it necessary to seize the momentum of the Emirati-Israeli normalization agreement, brokered by the United States, and announced on August 13.
On Tuesday, Pompeo called the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, to discuss the normalization agreement with Israel, which would serve "the foundations of peace and stability in the region," as reported by the official Emirates News Agency, WAM.
Israel and the UAE urged the rest of the Arab countries to take a similar step. And Israeli Intelligence Minister Eli Cohen had mentioned Bahrain by name, stressing that it might follow the example of the UAE.
The third leg
The Bahraini capital is the third leg of Pompeo's tour in the Middle East, which he initiated in Israel and then Sudan, and is scheduled to conclude in the Emirates.
On the first day of the tour, Pompeo expressed his "optimism" that "other Arab countries" would follow the example of the UAE in normalizing relations with Israel, despite the protests of the Palestinians.
However, Sudan ruled out Tuesday a normalization of relations with Israel before the end of the country's transitional phase and the organization of elections in 2022.
Bahrain, which Tawasul has joined with Israel since the 1990s, was the first Gulf country to welcome the Emirati-Israeli agreement.
And earlier on Tuesday, Sudanese Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok told the US Secretary of State during their meeting in Khartoum that his government is transitional and does not have a mandate to normalize with Israel.
Pompeo also discussed with the head of the Sudanese Sovereignty Council, Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, during a meeting in Khartoum, to strengthen relations between Sudan and Israel, according to a statement by US State Department spokeswoman Morgan Otagus.
The statement added that Pompeo and Burhan discussed the importance of the military's continued support for the civilian-led transitional government and Sudan's path toward democracy.