Senator Kerry met with King Salman the week prior.

After an announcement that the Camp David summit will be held without the Saudi kings presence more leaders from different Arab countries informed the US government they also won’t be attending. There is no doubt that this will disrupt more than needed talks between the US and its allies from the Middle East. The Gulf Cooperation Council is already having relationship troubles with Washington and their Iran focused actions, but it seems it’s going to be a bit harder to fix these issues.

The reason for King Salman’s absence this Thursday is the need for his presence on a humanitarian cease-fire in Yemen where the coalition led by Saudi, fights Shiite rebels known as Houtis. Instead of the king Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, who is also interior minister will be attending. Besides him Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will be speaking on behalf of the Saudi Defense Ministry also.

US officials said they understand the king’s responsibilities and they wouldn’t take that as a sign of disagreement. President Obama scheduled a private meeting with the new king, who came to throne this January after the death of his brother Abdullah, but this event will take place some other time.

The main reason for this summit is the need for assurance to Gulf nations that they still have US support on the matters troubling them. The first one is the fight against Muslim extremists in the region and fear of Iran’s rising power. US delegation has to convince them that the new nuclear agreement with Iran and other countries won’t affect their cooperation with the Gulf Council.

The biggest critic to the nuclear deal so far has been Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who warned that the US don’t need to rush with economic sanctions ease too soon because he believes the deal won’t shrink Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. He said his country needs strong safeguards about the deal to keep the good relations with their US partners.

Due the health issues both the sultan of Oman and president of the United Arab Emirates won’t be able to take part in the meeting. They will be replaced by deputy prime minister Sayyid Fahd bin Mahmoud Al Said and crown prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Kuwait’s emir Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah will take part in the meeting, along with Qatar’s emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.