US Secretary of State Marco Rubio embarks on a Middle East tour to reassure Gulf allies about the proposed $300 billion fund in the Iran deal, which they view as too generous to a regional foe.
Rubio's three-day trip to the Gulf region comes as the US and Iran reached a preliminary accord to end the four-month-old US-Israeli war.
The deal has raised concerns among Gulf leaders, who are worried that Iran could use the reconstruction fund to rebuild its military and that the accord does not address Tehran's ballistic missile capacity.
Rubio will meet with leaders in the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, both of which host strategic US military bases and were hit by Iranian missiles during the war.
The UAE faces severe economic strains due to the war, with thousands of expatriates fleeing the country, raising questions about its long-term viability.
Iran has set up secretive new cells in Iraq to carry out attacks on Gulf countries, including Kuwait and the UAE, according to a recent Reuters report.
