In a statement after the annual [Persian] Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit in Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh on Thursday.

Obama said he reiterated Washington’s policy “to use all elements of our power to secure our core interests in the [Persian] Gulf region and to deter and confront external aggression against our allies and our partners.”

Obama added that all the six monarchies attending the summit—Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates—were committed to the fight against the Daesh (ISIS) Takfiri group and agreed on working towards de-escalating regional conflicts.

“We remain united in our fight to destroy ISIS, or Daesh, which is a threat to all of us,” the president said. “The United States will help our GCC partners ensure that their special operations forces are inter-operable and GCC nations will continue to increase their contributions to the fight against ISIL and the coalition that [we] formed.”

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