{"id":44062,"date":"2014-06-23T15:58:00","date_gmt":"2014-06-23T15:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=766b967d33ccbf38fd11d769f7a3ac0c"},"modified":"2014-06-25T16:18:39","modified_gmt":"2014-06-25T16:18:39","slug":"news-story-defence-secretary-to-visit-middle-east-partners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=44062","title":{"rendered":"News story: Defence Secretary visits Middle East partners"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Updated:<\/em> Added photograph of Philip Hammond meeting UK troops<\/p>\n<div class=\"govspeak\">\n<p>Mr Hammond arrived in the Gulf today, 24 June, to meet with foreign and defence ministers of the governments of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (<abbr title=\"United Arab Emirates\">UAE<\/abbr>), Kuwait and Qatar.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking from the <abbr title=\"United Arab Emirates\">UAE<\/abbr>, Mr Hammond said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>I have held constructive talks with His Royal Highness Crown Prince Salman of Saudi Arabia and with His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid in the <abbr title=\"United Arab Emirates\">UAE<\/abbr> to discuss the ongoing situation in Iraq that represents a threat to not just British interests but the wider security of the Gulf.<\/p>\n<p class=\"last-child\">Britain is not planning to intervene militarily, but we are urging our Gulf allies to do all they can to seek a political resolution in Iraq that is inclusive and resolute in defeating <abbr title=\"Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant\">ISIL<\/abbr>. I will be continuing talks on the crisis with the governments of Kuwait and Qatar on Wednesday (25 June).<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The 2-day visit is an opportunity to discuss the need for a political solution to the crisis in Iraq which is inclusive and representative of all Iraq\u2019s communities.<\/p>\n<p>The meetings with regional allies will again demonstrate the UK\u2019s commitment to the security of Gulf countries.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"image embedded\">\n<div class=\"img\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Philip Hammond meets UK troops transiting through the Gulf\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk\/government\/uploads\/system\/uploads\/image_data\/file\/27870\/image__1_.jpeg\"><\/div><figcaption>Philip Hammond meets UK troops transiting through the Gulf on their way back from Afghanistan [Picture: Crown copyright]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Speaking ahead of the visit Mr Hammond said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>We remain committed to the security of the Gulf and want to reassure our friends and allies that we will do everything possible to support those who are working for a stable and democratic Iraqi state and to alleviate humanitarian suffering.<\/p>\n<p class=\"last-child\">As the Foreign Secretary and I have previously made clear, the response to these events must be led by the Iraqi government. We are urgently looking at ways to help the Iraqi government, for example with counter-terrorist expertise.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Defence Secretary Philip Hammond is in the Gulf to discuss the threat terrorist group ISIL poses to Iraq and the region as a whole.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44062"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44062"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44062\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44196,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44062\/revisions\/44196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}