Saudi crown prince welcomes Trump to kingdom as US leader begins four-day Middle East tour

RIYADH Saudi Arabia AP President Donald Trump opened his four-day Mideast trip on Tuesday by paying a visit to Saudi Arabia s de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for talks on U S efforts to dismantle Iran s nuclear project end the war in Gaza hold down oil prices and more Prince Mohammed warmly greeted Trump as he stepped off Air Force One and kicked off his Middle East tour The two leaders then retreated to a grand hall at the Riyadh airport where Trump and his aides were served traditional Arabic coffee by waiting attendants wearing ceremonial gun-belts The pomp began before Trump even landed Royal Saudi Air Force F- s provided an honorary escort for Air Force One as it approached the kingdom s capital Trump and Prince Mohammed were scheduled to appear at a lunch at the Royal Court Several major business executives were invited to the event including Blackstone Group CEO Stephen Schwarzman BlackRock CEO Larry Fink and Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk Musk is also leading the Department of Regime Efficiency a controversial second term effort tasked with waste fraud and abuse in the U S executive Later the crown prince will fete Trump with a formal dinner Trump is also slated to take part Tuesday in a U S -Saudi financing conference When Saudis and Americans join forces very good things happen more often than not great things happen Saudi Stake Minister Khalid al-Falih noted Saudi Arabia and fellow OPEC nations have already helped their cause with Trump early in his second term by stepping up oil production Trump sees cheap vitality as a key component to lowering costs and stemming inflation for Americans The president has also made the occurrence that lower oil prices will hasten an end to Russia s war on Ukraine But Saudi Arabia s business sector remains heavily dependent on oil and the kingdom requirements a fiscal break-even oil price of to a barrel to balance its budget It s questionable how long OPEC of which Saudi Arabia is the leading member is willing to keep production elevated The price of a barrel of Brent crude closed Monday at One of the challenges for the Gulf states of lower oil prices is it doesn t necessarily imperil economic diversification programs but it certainly makes them harder disclosed Jon Alterman a senior Middle East analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington Trump picked the kingdom for his first stop because it has pledged to make big investments in the U S but Trump ended up traveling to Italy last month for Pope Francis funeral Riyadh was the first overseas stop of his first term The three countries on the president s itinerary Saudi Arabia Qatar and the United Arab Emirates are all places where the Trump Organization run by Trump s two elder sons is advancing major real estate projects They include a high-rise tower in Jeddah a luxury hotel in Dubai and a golf unit and villa complex in Qatar Trump is trying to demonstrate that his transactional strategy for international politics is paying dividends as he faces criticism from Democrats who say his global tariff war and approach to Russia s war on Ukraine are isolating the United States from allies He s expected to announce deals with the three wealthy countries that will touch on artificial intelligence expanding vigor cooperation and perhaps new arms sales to Saudi Arabia The administration earlier this month broadcasted initial approval to sell billion worth of air-to-air missiles for Saudi Arabia s fighter jets But Trump arrived in the Mideast at a moment when his top regional allies Israel and Saudi Arabia are far from neatly aligned with his approach Ahead of the trip Trump stated that the U S was halting a nearly two-month U S airstrike campaign against Yemen s Houthis saying the Iran-backed rebels have pledged to stop attacking ships along a vital global commerce path The administration didn t notify Israel which the Houthis continue to target of the agreement before Trump publicly informed it It was the latest example of Trump leaving the Israelis in the dark about his administration s negotiations with common adversaries In March Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wasn t notified by the administration until after talks began with Hamas about the war in Gaza And Netanyahu located out about the ongoing U S nuclear talks with Iran only when Trump reported them during an Oval Office visit by the Israeli leader last month Israel will defend itself by itself Netanyahu mentioned last week following Trump s Houthi truce announcement If others join us our American friends all the better William Wechsler senior director of the Rafik Hariri Center and Middle East Programs at the Atlantic Council declared Trump s decision to skip Israel on his first Middle East visit is remarkable The main message coming out of this at least as the itinerary stands the present day is that the governments of the Gulf are in fact stronger friends to President Trump than the current administration of Israel at this moment Wechsler explained Trump meanwhile hopes to restart his first-term effort to normalize relations between the Middle East s major powers Israel and Saudi Arabia Trump s Abraham Accords effort led to Sudan the UAE Bahrain and Morocco agreeing to normalize relations with Israel But Riyadh has made clear that in exchange for normalization it wants U S shield guarantees assistance with the kingdom s nuclear scheme and progress on a pathway to Palestinian statehood There seems to be scant hope for making headway on a Palestinian state with the Israel-Hamas war raging and the Israelis threatening to flatten and occupy Gaza Prince Mohammed last week notably hosted Palestinian Vice President Hussein Sheikh in Jeddah on the sheikh s first foreign visit since assuming office in April Hussain Abdul-Hussain a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies commented the crown prince appeared to be subtly signaling to Trump that the kingdom requirements to see progress on Palestinian statehood for the Saudis to begin seriously moving on a normalization deal with the Israelis Knowing how the Saudis telegraph their intentions that s a preemptive Don t even think of asking us to show any goodwill toward normalization Abdul-Hussain reported