https://arab.news/mtu65
When Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman visits the White House to meet with US President Donald Trump this week, there will be no shortage of issues for the two leaders to discuss. Follow-up on the robust bilateral cooperation frameworks in economics and technology, including artificial intelligence — outlined during Trump’s visit to the Kingdom in May — is sure to be on the agenda, as are still-unresolved thorny regional security issues, such as Iran, Israel-Palestine and the continued threat presented by the Houthis in Yemen.
A top priority for Saudi Arabia will be some sort of security guarantee or defense pact from the US — something Riyadh has been seeking for several years. In March 2023, following Saudi Arabia and Iran’s renewal of diplomatic ties in a deal announced by China in Beijing, top Saudi officials ramped up their long-standing efforts to secure a defense pact with the Biden administration. It showed just how skeptical Saudi Arabia still was about Tehran’s intentions, particularly given the threats presented by Iran’s network of partners like the Houthis, Hezbollah and various militias in Syria and Iraq in the so-called Axis of Resistance at the time.
