Saudi king, US defense secretary discuss Iran nuclear deal

US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter met Wednesday with Saudi King Salman to reassure the key Washington ally about the international nuclear deal struck last week with Iran.

Carter discussed US-Saudi relations and developments in the Middle East with the monarch, the official Saudi Press Agency reported.

Carter reassured King Salman that the United States remains committed to peace and stability in the region, the agency reported without details.

Iran is a regional rival of Saudi Arabia. Tehran and Riyadh are on opposite sides in the Syria and Yemen conflicts.

Carter's visit to Saudi Arabia is part of a Middle Eastern tour - including Israel and Jordan - to dispel US allies' worries about the nuclear agreement with Iran.

The UN Security Council unanimously passed a resolution Monday in the first of a series of steps that - as Tehran's compliance is verified - are to gradually unwind the international sanctions that have choked the Iranian economy.

Washington's Middle East allies fear that lifting the sanctions will expand Iran's influence in the region.

Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said that after the meeting in the western Saudi city of Jeddah, which included Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef and Defence Minister Mohammed bin Salman, who is deputy crown prince, Carter and the Saudis "affirmed the longtime security partnership between the US and Saudi Arabia."

They discussed issues of "both nations' mutual security interests, including checking Iranian destabilizing activities in the region and countering violent extremism" from groups like the Islamic State organization.

The meeting built "on commitments made at the Gulf Cooperation Council summit" hosted by US President Barack Obama in May outside Washington, Cook said.

The two countries addressed enhanced training for special operations and counterterrorism forces, integrating air and missile defenses, bolstering cyber defence and bolstering maritime security.