TRUMP FETES SAUDI CROWN PRINCE
US-Saudi Arabia relationship is ‘strongest it has ever been’
SAUDI Arabia’s crown prince received an effusive welcome at the White House on Tuesday from President Donald Trump, who hailed a “great friendship” with the kingdom but made no public mention of the sticking points in the burgeoning alliance.
“The relationship is probably the strongest it’s ever been. We understand each other,” Trump said.
Prince Mohammed bin Salman, 32, was making his first visit to the White House since he cemented his role as the kingdom’s de facto political leader, and as he pursues economic and social reforms long sought by the west.
Trump, touching on the sensitive shaking-out happening inside the kingdom, said “some tremendous things have happened since your last visit to the White House”.
“You were the crown prince, and now you are beyond the crown prince.”
Trump and MBS, as the prince is known in Washington’s corridors of power, have seen eye to eye on concerns about Iran’s military activism, Middle East peace, relaxing Saudi Arabia’s conservative laws and over their love for big ticket mega-investments.
But an all-out PR campaign designed to burnish the crown prince’s image, and declarations that “relations have never been better,” mask several problems that could spoil the honeymoon.
There are concerns about a US law that exposes Saudi Arabia to legal action over the 9/11 attacks, which Riyadh would like to see removed.
Another point of friction is the war in Yemen, where Saudi Arabia leads a coalition fighting the Houthi rebels, who are backed by Iran.
The three-year-old conflict has been beset by allegations of atrocities against civilians.
But the most delicate discussions could be about Saudi Arabia’s nuclear programme, which is mooted as civilian-focused, but could quickly become a platform for building a weapon.
“Saudi Arabia does not want to acquire any nuclear bomb, but without a doubt, if Iran developed a nuclear bomb, we will follow suit as soon as possible,” Prince Mohammed told CBS television in a recent interview.