Kuwait City — Top US diplomat Mike Pompeo sought Wednesday to bolster a united front against Iran during a Middle East tour.

The US secretary of state kicked off his regional tour in Kuwait where he met Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah on the first stop of a trip that will also take him to Israel and Lebanon.

Pompeo told reporters on the flight from the United States that he would discuss “strategic dialogue” and the need to combat “the threat posed by the Islamic Republic of Iran” with leaders in the region.

Pompeo is also pushing for a greater role for the Middle East Strategic Alliance (MESA), a US-sponsored Arab NATO aimed at uniting Washington’s Arab allies against Tehran.

“We all have the same set of threats, threats from Al-Qaeda, from (the Daesh group), threats from the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Pompeo said at a joint press conference with Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Sabah.

Kuwait’s foreign minister said that a long-awaited US peace proposal for the Middle East should be acceptable to all stakeholders and factor in regional considerations.

“We hope the plan will take into account the situation in the region and all the relevant parties,” Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Sabah said.

“We believe the strong relationship between the United States and several countries will lead to an acceptable resolution to all parties and to reaching a political solution that has been long waited for.”

Kuwait currently holds a non-permanent seat in the UN Security Council, where it has championed the Palestinian cause. — Agencies