British PM meets Saudi king

British Prime Minister David Cameron told Al Arabiya television during a visit to Saudi Arabia on Friday that economic pressure on Iran would force it to reconsider its position. “We support an international decision against Syria based on the Arab League,” Cameron told Al Arabiya adding that Assad has lost legitimacy. The interview will be broadcast by Al Arabiya later. The United States is leading an international drive to cut Iran’s oil exports, the latest in a series of sanctions imposed on Iran in an attempt to push it into negotiations on its uranium enrichment program. The West believes Iran is using the program to develop an atomic bomb, but Iran denies this, saying the project is for peaceful purposes. Cameron met Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz earlier on Friday in his first visit to the world’s top oil exporter since taking office in 2010, according to Reuters. The meeting comes as tensions soar between the West and Tehran, the oil-rich kingdom’s arch-rival in the Gulf. The two leaders “discussed the importance of the UK-Saudi bilateral relationship and agreed to strengthen cooperation in a range of areas,” Cameron’s office said in a statement, according to AFP. They “also discussed recent developments in the region, in particular their shared concerns about the situation in Syria, Iran and Yemen,” it added. An uprising in Syria has left more than 5,000 people killed since March in a crackdown on protests against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, according to a United Nations estimate last month. Yemen has also been rocked by a year of unrest in which hundreds have been killed amid fears of a growing al-Qaeda influence across its southern and eastern provinces due to a weakening central government. Cameron’s first visit to the OPEC kingpin also comes as Western governments, including Britain, have moved to step up sanctions over Iran’s controversial nuclear program, threatening an embargo on vital oil exports that has drawn an angry response from Tehran. Iran has threatened to shut the strategic Strait of Hormuz -- a chokepoint for a fifth of the world's oil -- if it is attacked or if heavy sanctions are imposed. “The prime minister also raised our concerns about Somalia and the problems of conflict, piracy and terrorism which threaten Somalis and the wider international community,” Cameron’s office said. “He briefed the king on the aims of next month’s London Conference on Somalia, in particular to catalyze a coordinated international effort focused on practical measures to help Somalis rebuild their country.” Somalia has been without an effective central government since president Siad Barre was ousted in 1991 as violence, piracy and famine tear the African country. Saudi state news agency SPA reported earlier that the two leaders discussed “regional and international developments as well as the various means of strengthening cooperation between both countries,” without elaborating. The meeting was attended by top Saudi officials. Britain has been seeking to strengthen ties with oil-rich Saudi Arabia, a major market for Western arms deals, and boost exports to its largest Middle East trading partner. Annual bilateral trade is worth 15 billion pounds ($23 billion), while Saudi investments in Britain amount to more than 62 billion pounds.