AMMAN, 15 May 2007 — US Vice President Dick Cheney held talks yesterday at Jordan’s Red Sea port of Aqaba with King Abdallah, who urged a “peaceful solution” to the standoff between Western powers and Iran over its nuclear program, according to an official statement.
“Regarding the crisis over Iran’s nuclear file, the monarch reiterated Jordan’s attitude calling for a peaceful solution that averts the region more tensions and turmoil,” the statement from the royal court said.
Cheney arrived at Aqaba on Sunday on the last leg of a regional tour that took him also to Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. His avowed aim was to muster support of US allies for advancing the political process in Iraq, but observers believed the real objective of the trip could be rallying the so-called Arab Quartet behind any military action Washington could take against Teheran to strip it of its nuclear bomb-making potential.
On Iraq, King Abdallah told Cheney that Jordan supported all means for bringing the sectarian fighting and violence there to an end.
