Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's special advisor on the Gulf and southwest Asia, Dennis Ross, will travel to the Middle East beginning April 28 "to discuss with Gulf and Egyptian leaders issues of mutual and regional concern," State Department spokesman Robert Wood said Monday. "This trip will further advance the U.S. commitment to renewed diplomacy in the region and ongoing consultations with partners."
Ross will travel to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, and Egypt. He will be joined by NSC Senior Director Puneet Talwar and CENTCOM Deputy Commander Lt. Gen. John R. Allen.
With the Obama administration's Iran review seemingly completed, and the president and secretary saying they plan to engage in direct diplomacy, Ross's trip "is about reassuring allies that they are not going to make a grand deal with Iran at their expense," an administration source suggested.
Ross is believed to have as many as 10 people working for him at the department, including Ben Fishman and Ray Takeyh, a department senior science policy advisor Alex Deghan (described as looking at possible scientific exchanges, among other issues), as well as several foreign service officers detailed to him.
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