A White House official announced on the 3rd that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia will make an official working visit to the United States and is scheduled to meet with US President Donald Trump at the White House on the 18th (local time).
Reuters explained that this visit comes as President Trump is pressuring Saudi Arabia to sign the so-called "Abraham Accords," which focus on normalizing diplomatic relations with Israel.
Donald Trump, President of the United States (left), and Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, met in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, last May. Photo by Reuters
During his first term in 2020, President Trump persuaded the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco to sign the Abraham Accords, which aimed to normalize diplomatic relations with Israel. Saudi Arabia has maintained that it would be difficult to join the Abraham Accords unless measures are taken to establish and recognize a Palestinian state.
In a CBS interview aired the previous day, President Trump said he believes that Saudi Arabia will eventually sign the Abraham Accords.
The British daily Financial Times (FT) reported two weeks ago that the Crown Prince's visit to the US could lead to the signing of a defense treaty focused on strengthening military and intelligence cooperation between the two countries.
A senior official in the Trump administration told Reuters, "There are discussions about signing something when the Crown Prince visits, but the details are still fluid."
Saudi Arabia has sought approval to purchase high-performance weapons from the United States and has demanded an official security guarantee from the US for its own defense. Saudi Arabia is one of the largest customers of American weapons. The two countries have maintained a strong relationship for decades, based on an agreement in which Saudi Arabia provides oil and the US provides security.
When President Trump visited Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, in May of this year, the US approved a plan to sell a $142 billion weapons package to Saudi Arabia.
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