The House Middle East and Africa subcommittee also raised the prospect that several PGCC Arab states could reconcile with Teheran and damage American interests in the Persian Gulf, World Tribune reported on Wednesday.

In a hearing on May 22, Ros-Lehtinen warned that the six PGCC Arab states would abandon Washington. She said this would threaten counter-insurgency and other US cooperation with Persian Gulf Arab states as well as spark a regional arms race.

The subcommittee was told that recent efforts to improve Saudi-US relations failed. They included a visit by President Barack Obama to Saudi Arabia in March 2014, in which he met King Abdullah.

Senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies David A. Weinberg also raised the prospect that Saudi Arabia would acquire a nuclear weapon from Pakistan and that the United Arab Emirates, which signed a pledge not to enrich uranium, could follow.

“I think the linkages between the Saudi and Pakistani military establishments, including in this [nuclear] arena, are extremely close and need be a cause of concern,” he said, adding that the PGCC believes that Washington has abandoned its Persian Gulf allies and “ceded its longtime leadership position.”

NTJ/NJF