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Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has received a warm welcome to the White House from United States President Donald Trump in a visit that has emphasised the deepening ties between Riyadh and Washington.<\/p>\n
The White House rolled the literal red carpet out for Prince Mohammed, known as MBS, on Tuesday. Trump greeted him with a ceremony that featured marching bands, flag-carrying horsemen and a military flyover.<\/span><\/p>\n list of 3 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n The opulent display of hospitality signalled Trump\u2019s embrace of what he sees as a new Middle East driven by financial investments and US partnerships with allies in the region, chiefly Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n After Prince Mohammed\u2019s arrival through the South Portico, he and Trump took questions from journalists in the Oval Office. The two leaders spoke of business opportunities, peace, artificial intelligence and the tech business.<\/p>\n The apparent challenges in the region, including the continuing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, appeared to take a back seat during their Oval Office appearance. Here are the key takeaways from the meeting:<\/p>\n In recent months, Trump has repeatedly said he would like Saudi Arabia to join the so-called Abraham Accords, which established formal relations between Israel and several Arab countries.<\/p>\n On Tuesday, Prince Mohammed and Trump signalled possible progress on the issue without providing details or a timeline for a potential deal. The crown prince, however, did reiterate that Riyadh wants to advance the establishment of a Palestinian state as part of a potential agreement.<\/p>\n \u201cWe believe having a good relation with all Middle Eastern countries is a good thing, and we want to be part of the Abraham Accords,\u201d Prince Mohammed told reporters.<\/p>\n \u201cBut we want also to be sure that we secure a clear path [to a] two-state solution. And today we have a healthy discussion with Mr President that we\u2019ve got to work on that, to be sure that we can prepare the right situation as soon as possible to have that.\u201d<\/p>\n Saudi officials have previously stressed that Riyadh is committed to the Arab Peace Initiative, which conditions the recognition of Israel on the establishment of a Palestinian state.<\/p>\n Trump said he had \u201cgood talks\u201d with Prince Mohammed about the issue.<\/p>\n \u201cWe talked about one state, two states. We talked about a lot of things. In a short period of time, we\u2019ll be discussing it further too,\u201d the US president said.<\/p>\n When asked whether the US and Saudi Arabia have reached a defence deal, Trump said: \u201cWe pretty much have. We have reached an agreement on that.\u201d<\/p>\n The details of the negotiation are not clear, but Riyadh has been seeking a mutual defence pact with Washington akin to NATO\u2019s Article Five, which would see the US come to the kingdom\u2019s aid if it fell under attack.<\/p>\n Trump had confirmed on Monday that he will authorise the sale of F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n During the meeting with MBS, he said the jets would not be downgraded to ensure Israel\u2019s military superiority in the region, a departure from a US policy known as \u201cqualitative military edge\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019d like you to get planes of reduced calibre. I don\u2019t think that makes you too happy,\u201d he told the Saudi crown prince.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019ve been a great ally. Israel has been a great ally, and we\u2019re looking at that exactly right now. But as far as I\u2019m concerned, I think they are both at a level where they should get top of the line.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump once again expressed pride in the US strikes against Iran\u2019s nuclear facilities in June.<\/p>\n \u201cWe did that on behalf of everybody, and the outcome was extraordinary because we have the best pilots, the best equipment, the best planes, the best everything,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The US president later shifted to a softer tone on Iran, saying Tehran is seeking a diplomatic resolution with Washington, which has sought the dismantlement of its nuclear programme.<\/p>\n \u201cI am totally open to it, and we\u2019re talking to them,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd we start a process. But it would be a nice thing to have a deal with Iran. And we could have done it before the war, but that didn\u2019t work out. And something will happen there, I think.\u201d<\/p>\n Saudi Arabia\u2019s official news agency, SPA, had reported that MBS had received a handwritten letter addressed to him from Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian before his trip to Washington. No details were available about its content.<\/p>\n On Tuesday, Prince Mohammed said Saudi Arabia would back a US-Iran deal.<\/p>\n \u201cWe will do our best to help to reach a deal between the United States of America and Iran,\u201d he told reporters.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd we believe it\u2019s good for Iran\u2019s future to have a good deal that would satisfy the region and the world and the United States of America.\u201d<\/p>\n At the outset of the two leaders\u2019 public remarks, Trump expressed gratitude for anticipated Saudi investments in the US, which he said will be in the hundreds of billions of dollars.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to thank you because you\u2019ve agreed to invest $600bn into the United States. And because he\u2019s my friend, he might make it $1 trillion, but I\u2019m going to have to work on him,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n He added that the Saudi funds will create jobs and resources for US companies and Wall Street investment firms.<\/p>\n For his part, MBS said the Saudi investments in the US will likely rise to $1 trillion.<\/p>\n \u201cThe agreement that we are signing today in many areas \u2013 in technology and AI, in rare materials, magnet, etc \u2013 that will create a lot of investment opportunities,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The crown prince echoed Trump\u2019s assessment that the US is now the \u201chottest country\u201d in the world, adding that the kingdom wants to be part of the \u201cfoundation of emerging technologies\u201d in the US.<\/p>\n Trump and MBS were all smiles as they exchanged flattering comments from the moment the crown prince arrived at the White House.<\/p>\n At one point, Trump reached for Prince Mohammed\u2019s hand and held it as he criticised his predecessor, former US President Joe Biden, for giving MBS only a fist bump when he visited Riyadh during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021.<\/p>\n \u201cI grabbed that hand. I don\u2019t give a hell where that hand\u2019s been,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n The US president described the Saudi crown prince as \u201cfantastic\u201d and \u201cbrilliant\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have an extremely respected man in the Oval Office today, and a friend of mine for a long time \u2013 very good friend of mine,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m very proud of the job he\u2019s done. What he\u2019s done is incredible in terms of human rights and everything else.\u201d<\/p>\n The US president went on to rebuke an ABC News reporter for asking a challenging question of Prince Mohammed, accusing her of disrespecting his guest.<\/p>\n When the same journalist later asked Trump why he would not voluntarily release government files related to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Trump said ABC News\u2019s broadcasting licence should be revoked.<\/p>\n \u201cYou start off with a man who is highly respected, asking him a horrible, insubordinate and just a terrible question,\u201d Trump said, referring to the earlier question to MBS.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd you could even ask that same exact question nicely. You\u2019re all psyched. Somebody psyched you over at ABC. You\u2019re going to psych it. You\u2019re a terrible person and a terrible reporter.\u201d<\/p>\n About the same time as Trump welcomed MBS, the US House of Representatives passed a bill to compel the release of the Epstein files.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has received a warm welcome to the White House from United States President Donald Trump in a visit that has emphasised the deepening ties between Riyadh and Washington. The White House rolled the literal red carpet out for Prince Mohammed, known as MBS, on Tuesday. Trump greeted him with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2578,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us-canada-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2577\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n
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