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Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. Bandar Algaloud | Courtesy of Saudi Royal Court | Reuters Saudi Arabia's king told an emergency Arab summit on Thursday that

decisive action was needed to stop Iranian "escalations" in the region following attacks on Gulf oil assets, as American officials said a U.S. military deployment had deterred

Tehran. A Gulf Arab statement and a separate communique issued after the wider summit both supported the right of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to defend their interests after

the attacks on oil pumping stations in the kingdom and tankers off the UAE. But in a sign of regional tensions, Iraq, which has good ties with neighboring Iran and Washington, said it

objected to the Arab communique, which stated that any cooperation with Tehran should be based on "non-interference in other countries". "The absence of a firm deterrent

stance against Iranian behavior is what led to the escalation we see today," King Salman told the two late night consecutive meetings. The ruler of the world's top crude exporter

said Shi'ite Iran's development of nuclear and missile capabilities and its threatening of world oil supplies posed a risk to regional and global security. U.S. Secretary of State

Mike Pompeo said on Thursday that the attacks on the four vessels near a major bunkering hub, just outside the Strait of Hormuz, were "efforts by Iranians to raise the price of crude

oil around the world." Riyadh accused Tehran of ordering the drone strikes, which were claimed by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi group. U.S. national security adviser John Bolton said

on Thursday that evidence of Iran's being behind the tanker attacks would be presented to the U.N. Security Council as early as next week. Tehran denies any involvement. Iraqi

President Barham Salih, asking the gathering to support his country's stability, said that rising tensions with Iran could spark a war if not managed well and voiced hope that

Iran's security would not be targeted. Both Riyadh and Abu Dhabi have said they do not want war. "The kingdom is keen to preserve the stability and security of the region, to spare

it the scourge of war and to realize peace and stability," King Salman said. Tensions have risen between the United States and Iran after U.S. President Donald Trump a year ago

withdrew Washington from a 2015 international nuclear deal with Iran, re-imposed sanctions and boosted its military presence in the Gulf. Bolton has said that Iranian mines were "almost

certainly" used in the tanker attacks. An Iranian official dismissed Bolton's remarks as "a ludicrous claim." The Islamic Republic has said it would defend itself

against any military or economic aggression. Iranian Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri has said Tehran was not allowed to pursue development of nuclear weapons as it was banned by Supreme

Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The final communique said regional stability required the establishment of an independent and sovereign Palestinian state along 1967 borders. In 1967 Israel

captured Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem in a war with Arab states. MILITARY DEPLOYMENT U.S. special envoy for Iran, Brian Hook, said on Thursday that a re-positioning of U.S.

military assets in the region had succeeded in deterring Iran, but that the United States would respond with military force if its interests are targeted. Last week the Pentagon announced

the deployment of 900 additional troops to the region and extended the stay of 600 other service members, after speeding up deployment of an aircraft carrier strike group and sending bombers

and additional Patriot missiles. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi told the summit that this month's attacks provided an impetus to renew discussions on joint Arab defense

mechanisms. The United States and the UAE, which hosts a U.S. air base, on Wednesday activated a defense cooperation agreement signed earlier this year. Gulf states have a joint defense

force under the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), but the alliance has been fractured by a boycott imposed on Qatar by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and non-GCC Egypt since mid-2017. The Gulf

Arab communique, carried by Saudi state news agency SPA, said the six nations had discussed the GCC defense mechanism during their meeting. Qatari premier Abdullah bin Nasser Al Thani,

whose country hosts the largest U.S. military base in the region, attended the summits, the most senior Qatari official to visit the kingdom since the embargo.