US Defense Secretary James Mattis emphasized the importance of deescalating tensions in the Gulf, a Pentagon statement said on Saturday.

Speaking to his Qatari counterpart Khalid Al-Attiyah on the phone, the secretary “emphasized the importance of deescalating tensions in the Middle East so all partners in the Gulf region can focus their combined efforts to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, and deal with the threat Iran poses to the region.”

Source: Alarabiya