By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Arab leaders considered a plan Sunday to declare the Gulf a nuclear weapons-free zone and to persuade Iran to join in an attempt to reduce tensions with Tehran over its controversial nuclear program.
The two-day summit being held in the Emirates capital, Abu Dhabi, will also discuss the Lebanon-Syrian crisis, which has been fanned by a series of bombings that have killed four anti-Syrian critics in Lebanon, said Gulf Cooperation Council secretary-general Abdul Rahman Hamad al-Attiyah.
Leaders from the six GCC states have been watching with concern Iran's increasing confrontation with the West over its nuclear ambitions - further exacerbated by recent anti-Israeli comments by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
They also have their own fears over Iran's nuclear program - particularly that with a nuclear arsenal, Tehran would push its attempts to become the superpower in the Gulf.