US envoys wrap up six-country Middle East tour in Oman

By Ahmed al-Masri

DOHA, Qatar (AA) - Sultan al-Numani, Oman’s minister of the royal office, received Timothy Lenderking, U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for Gulf affairs, and retired U.S. Marine Corps General Anthony Zinni in Muscat on Wednesday, according to Oman’s official ONA news agency.

“The meeting reviewed the two countries’ historic relations and means of enhancing them, along with several issues of common concern,” ONA reported.

On Sunday, Lenderking and Zinni began a six-nation Middle East tour in hopes of containing a months-long political crisis between Qatar and a Saudi-led bloc of Arab states.

The tour -- which has already brought the two men to Kuwait, Qatar, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain -- is also aimed at laying the groundwork for a Gulf-U.S. Summit slated for May.

Lenderking and Zinni undertook a similar tour of the region last summer shortly after the dispute erupted between Qatar and the Saudi-led bloc of nations.