US-led Bahrain talks focus on Hormuz shipping, Mideast defense: CENTCOM

The US Central Command led a regional security dialogue in Bahrain on Wednesday, bringing together senior defense officials from 12 countries to discuss regional security, defense cooperation and commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

"We continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with our regional partners," a statement from CENTCOM quoted Commander Adm. Brad Cooper as saying after the talks with senior military officials from Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

"The discussions underscored our shared commitment to regional security and stability," Cooper added.

The participants discussed the current regional security environment and ways to strengthen defense collaboration across the Middle East.

They also underscored their shared commitment to maintaining the free flow of commerce through the Strait of Hormuz, a key global shipping route that had been closed after the US and Israel launched a bombing campaign on Iran in late February.

The US and Iran reached a memorandum of understanding last month to permanently end the war, reopen the strait and lift the subsequent US blockade of Iranian ports. Negotiations for a final deal that also includes Iran's nuclear program, meanwhile, continue.

In the statement, CENTCOM said the US and its regional partners operate what it described as the world's largest and most sophisticated active air and missile defense umbrella across the Middle East.

In January, CENTCOM and regional countries established a Middle Eastern Air Defense coordination cell to share information and threat warnings and respond to contingencies.

A brief flare-up over the weekend included Iranian missile and drone strikes on US military sites in Kuwait and Bahrain, which Tehran said came in response to US strikes on targets inside Iran.

The dialogue marked the first time military leaders from Syria and Lebanon participated in a US-led regional defense conference, CENTCOM noted.

The meeting came two days after Cooper met Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and army chief Gen. Rodolphe Haykal in Beirut to discuss preparations for implementing a recent US-brokered framework agreement between Lebanon and Israel.