Saudi crown prince welcomes Trump to kingdom as US leader begins
four-day Middle East tour
[May 13, 2025]
By ZEKE MILLER, AAMER MADHANI and JON GAMBRELL
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump opened his
four-day Middle East 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 program, end the war in Gaza, hold
down oil prices and more.
Prince Mohammed warmly greeted Trump as he stepped off Air Force One at
King Khalid International Airport in the Saudi capital 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.
Fighter jet escort
The pomp began before Trump even landed. Royal Saudi Air Force F-15s
provided an honorary escort for Air Force One as it approached the
kingdom’s capital.
Trump and Prince Mohammed also were taking part in a lunch at the Royal
Court, gathering with guests and aides in an ornate room with blue
accents and massive crystal chandeliers.
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 Government Efficiency, a
controversial second term effort tasked with slashing waste, fraud and
abuse in the U.S. government.
Later, the crown prince will fete Trump with a formal dinner. Trump is
also slated to take part Tuesday in a U.S.-Saudi investment conference.
“When Saudis and Americans join forces, very good things happen — more
often than not, great things happen," Saudi Investment Minister Khalid
al-Falih said.
Oil production
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 energy as a key component to lowering costs and stemming
inflation for Americans. The president has also made the case that lower
oil prices will hasten an end to the Russia-Ukraine war.
But Saudi Arabia's economy remains heavily dependent on oil, and the
kingdom needs a fiscal break-even oil price of $96 to $98 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 $64.77.
“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,” said Jon Alterman, a senior Middle East
analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in
Washington.
Qatar and UAE next
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 developing major real
estate projects. They include a high-rise tower in Jeddah, a luxury
hotel in Dubai and a golf course 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 energy cooperation and
perhaps new arms sales to Saudi Arabia. The administration earlier this
month announced initial approval to sell $3.5 billion worth of
air-to-air missiles for Saudi Arabia’s fighter jets.
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President Donald Trump arrives with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin
Salman for a coffee ceremony at the Royal Terminal of King Khalid
International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday, May 13,
2025.(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
But Trump arrived in the Middle East at a moment when his top
regional allies, Israel and Saudi Arabia, are far from neatly
aligned with his approach.
Trump’s decision to skip Israel remarkable, expert says
Before the trip, Trump announced that Washington 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 trade route.
The administration didn’t notify Israel — which the Houthis
continue to target — of the agreement before Trump publicly
announced 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 found out about the ongoing U.S. nuclear
talks with Iran only when Trump announced them during an Oval Office
visit by the Israeli leader last month.
“Israel will defend itself by itself,” Netanyahu said 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, said 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 today, is that the governments of the Gulf ... are in fact
stronger friends to President Trump than the current government of
Israel at this moment,” Wechsler said.
Restarting efforts to normalize Israel-Saudi ties
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. security guarantees, assistance with the kingdom’s
nuclear program 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, said the crown prince appeared to be subtly
signaling to Trump that the kingdom needs 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 said.
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Madhani reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
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