Saudi Crown Prince visits White House for first time in 7 years

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman arrives in Washington on Tuesday for his first go to to the White Home in seven years. This marks a pivotal second to rebuild U.S.-Saudi ties and strengthen a partnership that continues to be central to U.S. safety and power pursuits.

Earlier than the assembly, a gaggle of September 11 survivors, first responders and victims’ households urged President Donald Trump to carry Saudi Arabia accountable for its alleged position within the 2001 assaults. This follows the ruling by a United States federal district courtroom decide, George B. Daniels towards Saudi Arabia’s efforts to dismiss a lawsuit filed towards the nation by the households of September 11 victims, alleging that the nation was a celebration to the assaults.

The go to comes as Trump has publicly confirmed that america will promote F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia, telling reporters on Monday: “I’ll say we are going to do this. We are going to promote the F-35s,” a transfer that instantly places Israel’s qualitative army edge and the area’s future protection structure on the heart of the dialog.

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On Monday, President Donald Trump confirmed that the US will promote F-35s to Saudi Arabia. (U.S. Air Pressure photograph by Senior Airman Ali Stewart)

White Home spokesperson Anna Kelly advised Fox Information Digital that “President Trump appears to be like ahead to welcoming Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud to the White Home, the place the 2 leaders will take part in an official working go to. Because of our Dealmaker-in-Chief, america secured $600 billion in historic investments in the course of the President’s go to to Saudi Arabia earlier this 12 months, and People can anticipate extra nice offers for our nation in expertise, manufacturing, important minerals, protection and extra.”

A senior administration official advised Fox Information Digital that the anticipated agreements will embody billions of {dollars} in funding in US AI infrastructure, enhanced civil nuclear power cooperation and protection gross sales, geared toward strengthening protection cooperation between the 2 international locations.

The official added that the go to will even give attention to fulfilling the Saudis’ $600 billion funding pledge by way of dozens of focused investments in key U.S. sectors.

In Saudi Arabia the go to is seen as historic. Aziz Alghashian, a lecturer in worldwide relations at Naif Arab College in Riyadh, stated there may be “numerous pleasure. The Saudis have stated they don’t seem to be remoted within the area… that is again by way of open doorways and again to the entrance door.” He stated this second displays a broader shift in the way in which Saudis perceive their nation’s place on this planet. In accordance with Alghashian, Trump’s repeated heat feedback in regards to the crown prince and the dominion additionally contribute to the sensation that Riyadh is re-entering Washington on a powerful foundation.

MBS’s go to will likely be his first look on the White Home because the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which US intelligence stated was cleared, an accusation he denies.

Jacob Olidort, director for U.S. Safety on the America First Coverage Institute, advised Fox Information Digital that “Saudi Arabia is likely one of the high companions of ours within the area,” calling the journey “lengthy overdue, a reset of relations.”

On the coronary heart of the go to is the rising US-Saudi safety pact. Alghashian described its objective in three phrases: “elevate, facilitate and consolidate.”

In accordance with him, the settlement is meant “to take the Saudi-US relationship to the subsequent stage,” remodeling it from what he referred to as a “strategic partnership” to a extra formalized safety alignment. Though not a full-fledged treaty, as Riyadh had beforehand sought, the pact would nonetheless mark essentially the most important enchancment within the relationship in a long time. He stated the shift additionally has a home political rationale in Washington, arguing that inclusion within the “alliance” class “makes Saudi Arabia extra of a bipartisan subject, and never essentially a Trump legacy.”

American and Saudi flags fly on Riyadh’s foremost highways forward of US President Donald Trump’s arrival in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Could 12, 2025. (Hamad I Mohammed/Reuters)

Alghashian added that Saudi Arabia now desires to finish as a lot as attainable. “The Saudis really feel an urgency to get as a lot as they’ll from the Trump administration earlier than these offers develop into difficult within the subsequent administration,” he stated.

That urgency extends to nuclear cooperation, the place Saudi Arabia has made clear that whereas China and South Korea exist as alternate options, the nation prefers an American program. “Saudi Arabia actually desires US nuclear cooperation as a result of it provides extra safety,” he stated, including that Riyadh is not going to “wait endlessly” if circumstances develop into too restrictive, however sees the present US place as a gap.

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Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: view over the enterprise district alongside King Fahd Street, with Olaya Road on the left – skyline with skyscrapers, Olaya Towers, Al Faisaliah Tower, Marriot, Hamad Tower. (Getty Photographs)

Olidort stated Saudi Arabia has been “very categorical” in what it expects in a modified Center East: a protection pact and a transfer for a Palestinian state. He recalled not too long ago listening to a senior Saudi official say that “there will likely be no regional integration and not using a Palestinian state,” a line that displays the dominion’s long-standing public place that recognition of Israel will solely come after a reputable path to a Palestinian state has been established.

Nonetheless, Olidort stated full normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel might not be vital at the moment to advance U.S. priorities. He stated normalization “needn’t be the speedy precedence” and prompt that “additional deepening cooperation, however with out full normalization” could possibly be attainable if either side see the worth of nearer safety integration.

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That perspective is particularly related given the conflict in Gaza and Riyadh’s place on reconstruction. As Alghashian famous, Saudi Arabia has stated it “is not going to rebuild except Hamas is gone and Israel withdraws,” a place that places the dominion at odds with any hasty post-war plan and, in his view, leaves the area “in no man’s land.”

U.S. President Donald Trump walks with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman throughout an official state arrival ceremony on the Saudi Royal Courtroom on Could 13, 2025 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (Win McNamee/Getty Photographs)

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Trump’s determination to approve the sale of F-35s to Saudi Arabia provides one other layer. Saudi Arabia has formally requested as much as 48 fifth-generation plane, making it the most important potential F-35 purchaser exterior NATO and the primary Arab state after the United Arab Emirates to obtain them. The transfer would check Washington’s dedication to sustaining Israel’s qualitative army edge.

Nevertheless, Olidort argued that the sale doesn’t mechanically endanger Israel’s superiority. “I do not know if it will imply Israel loses its air superiority,” he stated, noting that Israel’s protection and area sectors are “world-class” and that the sale might “probably deepen cooperation between Israel and Saudi Arabia and make every of our companions … more practical.”

Along with protection, the go to can be anchored in expertise. Saudi Arabia is pushing for entry to superior US AI chips and positioning itself as a worldwide information and power hub.

A U.S. Air Pressure F-35 Lightning II assigned to the forty eighth Fighter Wing RAF, Lakenheath, UK, lands on the Hosio Freeway strip throughout train BAANA 2024, Ranua, Finland, September 4, 2024. (U.S. Air Pressure photograph by Airman 1st Class Tabatha Chapman)

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Olidort put the difficulty bluntly, saying that AI cooperation with Saudi Arabia is a strategic precedence for Washington as a result of “america is in a ‘race’ with China” and warning that “if we do not get there, we are going to find yourself in a Chinese language-dominated AI area.” This view displays the broader US evaluation that the way forward for synthetic intelligence – from information heart capability to semiconductor entry – is inextricably linked to nice energy competitors.

Fox Information’ Alec Schemmel contributed to this report.