Manama

Good morning.

Hey, what? Ted Baldwin, Manama Bahrain is in the house.

Oh, yeah.

Look at that.

Up at the mall, yo.

That's one of my favorite places.

Lived in Manama for a long time.

Fifth Fleet.

Right.

The United States has a tremendous ability to just withdraw forces from the region to say if Bahrain wants to leave basing access for us in Manama, that's delightful.

But we're not going to have particularly large forward deployments of ground forces in the region.

And let's roll the dice and see if that doesn't work out a little better for the American people.

You heard the sirens.

I was reading online that you were in Manama's old souk when everything unfolded.

Take us back.

And what was going through your mind?

So let's look at what very little looks like.

That same day, in Marama, Bahrain, the Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, sat down with all six Gulf monarchies.

All six.

Okay? And this morning he flew to Tehran and sat down with the Iranian president.

Still the Strait is closed.

And so what do they do? They pick up the phone and they call Moscow.

And they say, can you talk to Tehran for us? Okay? And that's why the meeting in Manama yesterday mattered so much and why Lavrov went straight on to Tehran today.

Russia is now the only player in the world that can sit in the Gulf's living room and Tehran's living room in the same week.

But from my perspective, I appreciate your mentioning the Abraham Accords.

I was privileged to be able to carry the first draft of those to Manama in November of 2019, realizing something that no one had thought was possible, which is that we might reach some of these historic normalization deals with Arab partners or Arab neighbors rather, of Israel before there was a development with the Palestinians.

And bear in mind, I labored with Jared Kushner for a year in the salt mine of preparing the peace to prosperity deal, which I know we briefed you on, which was an honest, good faith deal to the Palestinians.

They didn't take it.

The Gulf Cooperation Council added its voice on Sunday.

Foreign ministers met in Manama, and the final statement said an attack on any member affected all six, invoked the bloc's joint defense agreement, and backed Saudi Arabia's right to protect itself, according to Al Jazeera.

The ministers also welcomed the October 15 statement from the United Nations Security Council condemning Houthi strikes on the kingdom.

Elsewhere, Pakistan's foreign office said its foreign minister, Ishaq Dar, and Egypt's Abdelhidi condemned the Houthi attacks in a phone call and discussed coordination among Pakistan, Egypt, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia.

Gulf Cooperation Council states express solidarity with Saudi Arabia amid Houthi attacks, urging dialogue on United States-Iran tensions and restoring of pre-February 28th conditions in the Strait of Hormuz.

According to a final statement issued at the 168th session of the GCC Ministerial Council held on Sunday in Bahraini capital, Manama, It was said, quote, the council underscores the GCC member states full solidarity with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, their united stance alongside it and their support for all mayors it undertakes to safeguard its sovereignty and protect its security and interests.

The GCC also expressed support for Yemen's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

urging a political solution based on dialogue and the GCC initiative, the National Dialogue Conference Outcomes and relevant United Nations resolution.