Trump tries to strengthen ties with Saudis
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump hosted Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia for lunch at the White House on Tuesday, moving to forge a warmer relationship with the kingdom after a period of tension between the United States and a long-standing ally.
The lunch was an early effort by Trump to engage with Mohammed, the defense minister of Saudi Arabia. Hopes are high in Riyadh for improved relations with the United States after strained diplomacy between the Obama administration and the Saudis, particularly over the nuclear deal with Iran.
The visit was a chance for the two men to also discuss Yemen, where a civil war has pitted Iranian-aligned Houthi rebels against a Saudiled coalition of mostly Sunni Arab countries with U.S. support. The United States also is stepping up a campaign against al-Qaida there, while Trump faces a decision on whether to resume arms sales to the Saudis.
Mohammed, a young, ambitious leader jockeying for influence in his kingdom, and Trump each see the other as a crucial ally on a variety of pressing issues.
The president was expected to urge Saudi Arabia to support safe zones in Syria, which the administration has argued would be an alternative to accepting thousands of refugees from a country that has been ripped apart by six years of civil war.
Trump and members of his inner circle regard Saudi Arabia as a vital component of the White House strategy to get Middle East allies to help break the deadlock in the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. That approach is said to be favored by Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, who has been tasked with forging a peace between the two sides.
The president and his top aides “see Saudi Arabia as a crucial part of the Middle East and an important country to have a positive relationship with, even if there are irritants,” said Simon Henderson, the director of the Gulf and Energy Policy Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
Saudi Arabia and its Persian Gulf neighbors have been optimistic about Trump’s presidency, largely because of their deep frustration at what they called Obama’s refusal to forcefully engage in Middle Eastern issues like the war in Syria. They are encouraged by Trump’s business background, his lack of focus on human-rights issues and, most importantly, his vow to take a hard line against Iran.
“Trump has made it clear he is not worried about supporting human rights or freedom; he’s made clear that (President AbdelFattah) el-Sissi is going to be his best friend in Egypt; that all those difficult questions about gender equality and the like are going to be off the table for the next four years, and that Iran is very much on the table,” said Bruce Riedel, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.
Still, like many other world leaders, the Saudis view Trump with some degree of wariness, uncertain about the basic competency of his administration and eager to size up a president who has no experience in handling geopolitical affairs. Trump also sent some mixed signals to the Islamic world in the opening days of his presidency, including in signing a travel ban targeting predominantly Muslim countries, which excluded Saudi Arabia but was widely regarded as a “Muslim ban.”
Mohammed, 31, is second in line to the throne. He serves as defense minister, putting him in charge of the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen. Saudi officials see the Houthis in Yemen as a national threat and would like greater U.S. assistance in the fight against them.
Mohammed is also the guiding force behind a plan, known as Vision 2030, to transform the kingdom and reduce its dependence on oil.
Joining the president for the meetings were Vice President Mike Pence; H.R. McMaster, the national security adviser; Stephen Bannon, the president’s chief strategist; Reince Priebus, the White House chief of staff; and Kushner.