Daniel Bush

Nîmes is one of the hottest cities in France.

Well, this is a critical trip for the Secretary of State, Nick.

He's the first senior U.S.

official to visit this region since the ceasefire extension deal was reached.

And it's an important moment for the U.S.

because Secretary of State Rubio essentially is being sent here to assuage allies in the Gulf region that this deal is good for the broader region.

He will be visiting the United Arab Emirates.

He arrives here shortly a

as well as Kuwait and Bahrain.

These are all key allies of the U.S.

that have in general welcomed this deal.

But there are deep concerns among allies in the region about this memorandum of understanding about whether the United States and Iran can reach a long-term deal and whether or not the U.S.

gave up too much to Tehran in the bargain here in the short term.

Of course, these are countries that came under attack directly from Iran before the ceasefire was reached.

And these are also countries that may be on the hook potentially to compensate Iran in the form of reconstruction funds.

The memorandum of understanding this U.S.-Iran deal calls for $300 billion in reconstruction funds.

It's unclear where that money is coming from, but the U.S.

has suggested that it could come from regional allies, even as the president has insisted that it won't be paid for at all by the United States.

That's another issue on the agenda.

And of course, this will be a difficult test for Marco Rubio himself, who has been