Mohammad, Trump discuss Al Houthi threat in Yemen
US and Saudi Arabia focus on areas of agreement during crown prince’s trip
US President Donald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman discussed the situation in war-torn Yemen during a meeting on Tuesday, including Al Houthi militia and Iranian activity and the humanitarian crisis, the White House said.
“On Yemen, the President and the Crown Prince discussed the threat Al Houthis pose to the region, assisted by the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps,” it said in a statement yesterday. “The leaders discussed additional steps to address the humanitarian situation and agreed that a political resolution to the conflict is ultimately necessary to meet the needs of the Yemeni people.”
Prince Mohammad soaked in praise from Trump, who championed close economic ties and increased military sales to the Saudis as he hosted the Crown Prince in the Oval Office.
Trump and the crown prince focused on areas of agreement: Saudi investments in the US, American arm sales to the kingdom and sharp criticism of their mutual foe: Iran. Trump sounded an ominous note as he looked ahead to a decision in May about whether to stay in the Iran nuclear deal, loathed by both Trump and the Saudis.
“We’ll see what happens,” Trump said. “Iran has not been treating that part of the world, or the world itself, appropriately. A lot of bad things are happening in Iran.”
Big economic plans
Prince Mohammad was optimistic about prospects for closer economic ties amid “new waves of opportunities in different areas.”
“The opportunities are very huge,” he said in English.
While in Washington, the crown prince will hold separate meetings with a long roster of influential US officials, including the secretaries of defence, treasury and commerce, the CIA chief and congressional leaders from both parties. Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and White House envoy Jared Greenblatt, who are drafting Trump’s long-awaited Mideast peace plan, also joined the crown prince for dinner Tuesday, the Saudi Embassy in Washington said.
The visit comes as the US and much of the West are still trying to figure out Prince Mohammad, better known by his initials MBS, whose sweeping programme of social changes at home and increased Saudi assertiveness abroad has upended decades of traditional rule in Saudi Arabia.
The 32-year-old crown prince also has big economic plans, and over three weeks in the US he will meet businessmen in New York, tech mavens from Google and Apple Inc. in San Francisco, and entertainment bigwigs in Los Angeles. Other stops include Boston and Houston.
Prince Mohammad said recently he was restoring the more tolerant, egalitarian society that existed before Saudi Arabia’s ultraconservatives were empowered in 1979. He told CBS News: “We were victims, especially my generation that suffered from this a great deal.”
Prince Mohammad will meet businessmen in New York, tech mavens from Google and Apple Inc. in San Francisco, and entertainment bigwigs in LA.