"It's we hope, farthest reaching commitment to not
finance terrorist organizations that (the U.S.) Treasury will be monitoring
with each of their counterparts," said Dina Powell, White House deputy
national security adviser for strategy.
"The unique piece of it is that every single one of them
are signatories on how they're responsible and will actually prosecute the
financing of terrorism, including individuals."
The GCC comprises Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, the
United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.Western officials believe that people living in wealthy Gulf
countries have been an important source of funding for Sunni Islamist groups
fighting in Iraq and Syria, including Islamic State and al Qaeda.
The arms deal, plus
other investments that U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said could total
up to $350 billion, was the central achievement of Trump's first day in Riyadh,
first stop on a nine-day journey through the Middle East and Europe.
Speaking to journalists
after a ceremony to exchange agreements, Trump said it was a "tremendous
day" and spoke of "hundreds of billions of dollars of investments
into the United States and jobs, jobs, jobs. So I would like to thank all of
the people of Saudi Arabia."
King Salman gave Trump
a remarkably warm greeting, meeting him at the steps of Air Force One on
arrival, shaking the hand of Trump's wife, Melania, riding with Trump in his
limousine and spending most of the day with him.
But the political
turmoil back in Washington consumed the headlines in the United States and cast
a long shadow over the start of Trump's trip, which will include stops in
Israel, the Vatican, Italy and Belgium.
His firing of Federal
Bureau of Investigation head James Comey on May 9 and the appointment of a
special counsel to investigate Trump's 2016 presidential election campaign ties
to Russia have raised the question of whether he tried to squelch a probe into
allegations of a Russian connection.
Fanning the flames was
a New York Times report that Trump had called Comey a "nut job" in a
private meeting last week in the Oval Office with Russian Foreign Minister
Sergei Lavrov and ambassador Sergei Kislyak. The Times quoted briefing notes of
the conversation.