CAIRO, Aug. 3 -- Arab nations in the Persian Gulf are snapping up new U.S. arms offers partly out of fear that U.S. military installations on their territory would make them targets in any American war with Iran, regional experts said.
Iran is not worried by US arms sales in the Middle East, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was reported as saying by the ISNA news agency on Friday.
Iran's president criticized the U.S. on Friday for its plan to increase weapons sales to several Arab countries and step up military aid to Israel, saying Washington was trying to impose its dominance on the Middle East, the president's office reported.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki will visit Turkey to discuss Ankara's mounting concern about Kurdish separatism next week and then continue to Iran for security talks, an official said on Friday.
Further arming Iran's Arab neighbors with billions of U.S. dollars of high-tech equipment does nothing to remedy the problem.
Iran, the United States and Iraq will hold expert level talks next week to define the work of a security committee they agreed to set up in July to help restore security in Iraq, an Iranian news agency reported on Friday.
Christine Levinson's husband vanished while on a business trip to Iran. Five months later, she's going there to try to bring him back.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki will visit Iran and Turkey next week to discuss security issues and the need for cooperation amid tensions with both countries.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates is pushing the international community to pressure Iran into giving up its nuclear program. Gates says the U.S. "can't wait years" for Iran to change its policies.
European governments are warning Congress of the impact proposed U.S. sanctions on Iran could have on other interests, the Financial Times said Friday.