UPDATES WITH POMPEO'S REMARKS ON IRAN MEET</p> <p>MANAMA (AA) – U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in Bahrain on Friday for the fourth leg of a nine-nation tour of the Middle East.</p> <p>According to the U.S.-funded Al-Hurra television channel, Pompeo will meet with Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad, and Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa.</p> <p>Al-Hurra quoted an unnamed State Department source as saying that Washington’s continued partnership with the Gulf States was “necessary” to protect global energy supplies and counter “Iranian aggression”.</p> <p>Pompeo kicked off his tour in Jordan on Tuesday, followed by an hours-long visit to Iraq, where he met Iraqi President Barham Saleh, Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi and Parliament Speaker Mohamed al-Halbousi.</p> <p>On Wednesday and Thursday, he was in Cairo, where he met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri, along with other Egyptian officials.</p> <p>In a Friday interview with Fox News, Pompeo called for an international conference — to be held in Poland on Feb. 13 and 14 — to discuss Iran and the wider Middle East.</p> <p>The proposed conference, he said in the interview, would "focus on Middle East stability and… security here in this region, and that includes… making sure that Iran is not a destabilizing influence”.</p> <p>He went on to assert that “dozens” of European, Asian and African states would send representatives to the event, although he refrained from specifying which ones would attend.</p> <p>Some observers believe Pompeo’s current Middle East tour is meant to reassure Washington's regional allies in the run-up to a planned U.S. troop withdrawal from Syria.</p> <p>The tour will also bring Washington’s top diplomat to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Kuwait.