LONDON: King Abdullah II of Jordan said he supports the idea of a Middle East military alliance built on the same lines as NATO.

, the king said such a grouping could work with like-minded countries, but stressed its mission statement would need to be clear from the outset.

鈥淚鈥檇 like to see more countries in the area come into that mix. I would be one of the first people that would endorse a Middle East NATO,鈥� Abdullah said.

鈥淭he mission statement has to be very, very clear. Otherwise, it confuses everybody,鈥� he added.

The king said he already saw his country as a 鈥減artner鈥� of NATO, with Jordan having worked closely with the organization and its troops having fought 鈥渟houlder to shoulder鈥� with NATO forces in the past.

As well as security and military cooperation, a closer alliance in the Middle East could help to address the challenges arising from Russia鈥檚 invasion of Ukraine, especially with regard to energy and commodity prices, Abdullah said.

鈥淎ll of us are coming together and saying 鈥榟ow can we help each other?鈥� which is, I think, very unusual for the region,鈥� he said.

鈥淚f I鈥檓 okay and you鈥檙e not, I鈥檓 going to end up paying the price. I鈥檓 hoping what you鈥檙e seeing in 2022 is this new vibe, I guess, in the region to say, 鈥榟ow can we connect with each other and work with each other?鈥欌€�

The king also discussed the destabilizing threat of Iran to the region鈥檚 security and the Israel-Palestine crisis, both of which he said had the potential to disrupt development plans in the region.

鈥淚f they鈥檙e not talking to each other, that creates insecurities and instability in the region that will affect regional projects.

鈥淣obody wants war, nobody wants conflict,鈥� he said, adding that it remained to be seen whether countries in the region could work toward a vision where 鈥減rosperity is the name of the game.鈥�