U.S. President Donald Trump hosted Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the White House on Tuesday, focusing on arms deals, nuclear cooperation, while downplaying questions about the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
The controversy over the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and U.S.-based critic of the Saudi leadership, flared again in the Oval Office in front of cameras.
The kingdom's de facto ruler was making his first White House visit in more than seven years, seeking to further rehabilitate his global image tarnished by the incident.
"A lot of people didn't like that gentleman that you're talking about, whether you like him or didn't like him," Trump told reporters, with bin Salman sitting beside him. "Things happened, but he knew nothing about it, and we can leave it at that."
Bin Salman said it had been "painful" to hear about Khashoggi's death but that his government "did all the right steps of investigation."
"We've improved our system to be sure that nothing happened like that. And it's painful and it's a huge mistake," he told reporters.
Arms sales, civil nuclear agreement
Trump said he received a "positive response" about the prospects for Saudi Arabia normalising ties with Israel.
But the crown prince made clear that while he wanted to join the Abraham Accords, he was sticking to his condition that Israel must provide a path to Palestinian statehood, which it has refused to do.
During a dinner at the White House later on Tuesday, Trump said he was "taking our military cooperation to even greater heights" by designating Saudi Arabia a major non-NATO Ally, a status that provides a U.S. partner with military and economic privileges but does not entail security commitments.
A White House fact sheet said the two sides signed a Strategic Defence Agreement, which "fortifies deterrence across the Middle East," makes it easier for U.S. defence firms to operate in the country.
The dinner also included Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Portugal’s soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo, and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang.
The White House announced Trump had approved future deliveries of F-35 fighter jets and the Saudis had agreed to purchase 300 American tanks.
The two countries also signed a joint declaration on the completion of negotiations on civil nuclear energy cooperation, which the White House said would build the legal foundation for a long-term nuclear energy partnership.
Crown Prince boosts investment pledge
Sitting next to Trump, bin Salman promised to increase his country's U.S. investment to $1 trillion from a $600 billion pledge he made when Trump visited Saudi Arabia in May. But he offered no details or timetable.
The two sides also signed a memorandum of understanding on artificial intelligence and a framework for collaboration on critical minerals, the White House said.
A $1 trillion investment in the U.S. would be difficult for Saudi Arabia to pull together given its heavy spending on an already-ambitious series of massive projects at home, including futuristic megacities that have gone over budget, according to experts.
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The leader of Yemen’s southern separatists failed to travel to Riyadh for crisis talks on Wednesday, leaving his fate unclear and complicating efforts to contain a military escalation that has widened a rift between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
President Donald Trump welcomed Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the White House on Tuesday, as the Saudi de facto ruler seeks to rehabilitate his global image following the 2018 murder of U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi and deepen relations with Washington.
Trump says the United States "don’t need people that join wars after we’ve already won," targeting his criticism at UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Israel continues to fire missles at strategic sites in Iran and Gulf regions report more strikes from Iran.
Global oil prices continue to rise, currently surpassing $119 a barrel this Monday, an almost four year high following fresh U.S.-Israeli strikes targeting oil depots. Stock markets shares slumped on fears the conflict with Iran could disrupt shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.
Mojtaba Khamenei, son of the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is a hardline cleric with strong backing from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. His rise signals continuity in Tehran's anti-Western policies.
Iran named Mojtaba Khamenei to succeed his father Ali Khamenei as supreme leader on Monday (9 March), signaling that hardliners remain firmly in charge, as the week-old U.S.-Israeli war with Iran pushed oil above $100 a barrel.
Entry and exit across the state border between Azerbaijan and Iran for all types of cargo vehicles, including those in transit, will resume on 9 March, according to a statement by the Cabinet of Ministers of Azerbaijan.
U.S. President Donald Trump and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke by phone on Sunday as tensions between Washington and Westminster deepened over the conflict involving Iran. The call came less than a day after Trump criticised Britain’s response to U.S. strikes on Iranian targets.
Norwegian police are searching for a suspect after an explosion at the U.S. embassy in Oslo on 8 March caused minor damage but no injuries, in what authorities say may have been a deliberate attack linked to the Middle East crisis.
An explosion damaged a synagogue in the Belgian city of Liège early on Monday (9 March) in what authorities said was an antisemitic attack that caused damage but no injuries.
The Group of Seven (G7) finance ministers will meet on Monday to discuss a global rise in oil prices and a joint release of oil from emergency reserves coordinated by the International Energy Agency, the Financial Times reports.
Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief. Here are the top news stories for the 9th of March, covering the latest developments you need to know.
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