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US President Donald Trump gave a warm welcome to Saudi Arabia’s powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Tuesday and credited US defense sales to the Saudis with boosting American jobs, even as Riyadh’s involvement in Yemen’s civil war faced criticism.
In the Oval Office, Trump and the crown prince praised the strength of US-Saudi ties, which had grown strained under the Obama administration in part over differing views toward Riyadh’s regional rival, Iran.
Not so with Trump, who has taken a hardline view against Iran similar to that of the Saudi crown prince who has compared Iran’s supreme leader to Adolf Hitler.
The talks were part of the first visit by the prince to the United States since he became the heir apparent last year to King Salman.
Trump’s red-carpet treatment highlighted his administration’s strong backing of the crown prince, who carried out an anti-corruption purge that consolidated his power and whose aggressive foreign policy has caused unease among some Western allies.
At the same time, the kingdom has seen a cautious new climate of social freedoms with the rise of the 32-year-old crown prince after decades of elderly rulers.
Trump and Prince Mohammed discussed an agreement last year for Saudi investments with the United States worth 200 billion US dollars, including large purchases of US military equipment. Trump said the military sales contributed to the creation of 40,000 American jobs.
Trump held up charts to show the depth of Saudi purchases of US military hardware, ranging from ships to missile defense to planes and fighting vehicles.
“Saudi Arabia is a very wealthy nation, and they’re going to give the United States some of that wealth, hopefully, in the form of jobs, in the form of the purchase of the finest military equipment anywhere in the world,” he told reporters.
US President Donald Trump (4th R) meets with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud (4th L) of Saudi Arabia in the Oval Office at the White House on March 20, 2018 in Washington, United States.
The crown prince, who is also the defense minister, is on a public relations blitz while traveling in the United States, with stops in New York, Boston, Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Houston to cultivate investments.
A senior Trump administration official said the two leaders talked about the humanitarian situation in Yemen and that civilian casualties “did not come up in a major way,” given that Washington had been working with the Saudis to minimize them.
They also discussed nuclear cooperation. Riyadh has been stepping up plans to develop a civilian nuclear energy capability as part of a plan to reduce its dependence on oil.
Republican Senator Bob Corker, chairman of the chamber’s Foreign Relations Committee, said senators questioned the crown prince closely about Yemen during a meeting with him on Tuesday.
The Saudi embassy said the prince discussed with members “countering the threat posed by Iran and the Iran-backed Houthi militias” as well as Saudi “efforts to address and alleviate the humanitarian situation in Yemen.”
(REUTERS)
