New Secretary of State Mike Pompeo traveled this weekend to Saudi Arabia, where he held a joint press conference with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir.
"Gulf unity is necessary, and we need to achieve it," he said, pushing Riyadh to end its conflict with neighboring Qatar. "We are hopeful that they will, in their own way, figure out how to remove the dispute between them," Pompeo told the press.
He also took aim at Saudi rival Iran. Tehran "destabilizes this entire region," Pompeo argued. "It supports proxy militias and terrorist groups. It is an arms dealer to the Houthi rebels in Yemen. It supports the murderous Assad regime [in Syria] as well." Pompeo is a strident critic of the Iran nuclear deal, which President Trump has said he may exit.