Manama: The king of Bahrain will be skipping the Camp David summit of US and allied Arab leaders, the Kingdom has confirmed.
The island kingdom of Bahrain said that its delegation would be headed by the country's crown prince, Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa.
Bahrain, whose leadership has close ties to the Saudis, is an important military ally of the US.
It is the longstanding host to the Navy's 5th Fleet, which is responsible for operations around the Arabian Peninsula and northern Indian Ocean, and is Washington's main naval counterbalance to Iran.
At the summit, leaders of Gulf nations will be looking for assurance that Obama has their support when the region feels under siege from Islamic extremists and Syria, Iraq and Yemen are in various states of chaos.
Arab allies also feel threatened by Iran's rising influence and worry the nuclear pact taking shape with the US, Iran and other nations may embolden Tehran to intrude more aggressively in countries of the region.
