Explore Business Standard
Mohammed Bin Salman
President Donald Trump welcomed Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to Washington on Tuesday as the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia makes his first White House visit since the 2018 killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents. Trump warmly received Prince Mohammed when he arrived at the White House Tuesday morning for a pomp-filled arrival ceremony that included a military flyover and a thundering greeting from the US Marine band. The US-Saudi relationship had been sent into a tailspin by the operation targeting Khashoggi, a fierce critic of the kingdom, that US intelligence agencies later determined Prince Mohammed likely directed the agents to carry out. But seven years later, the dark clouds over the relationship have been cleared away. And Trump has tightened his embrace of the 40-year-old crown prince he views as an indispensable player in shaping the Middle East in the decades to come. Prince Mohammed, for his part, denies involvement in the killing of ..
President Donald Trump has not been subtle about how badly he wants to see Saudi Arabia and Israel normalise relations. He has talked up his push to extend his first term Abraham Accords the project that formalised commercial and diplomatic ties between Israel and a trio of Arab nations as key to his plan for bringing long-term stability to the Middle East as the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza continues to hold. The normalisation push is expected to be high on the agenda when Trump hosts Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Tuesday for talks during a pomp-filled White House visit. I hope that Saudi Arabia will be going into the Abraham Accords very shortly, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Friday as he made his way to Florida for the weekend. Yet Trump's optimism that a US-brokered deal could come soon is tempered by more sober internal assessments. Saudi Arabia is unlikely to sign on to the accords anytime soon, but there is cautious optimism
The fist bump seems so long ago. Three years after Joe Biden's cursory greeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Donald Trump luxuriated in an extravagant royal welcome as he arrived in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday. Concerns about human rights and fossil fuels in the oil-rich autocracy were nowhere on the agenda. Instead the day was all about cutting deals and celebrating a personal relationship that has endured through scandal and political turmoil. I really believe we like each other a lot, Trump said as they sat on golden chairs under elaborate chandeliers in the royal palace. During a speech later in the day, the president described Prince Mohammed as an incredible man" and my friend. The feeling was clearly mutual. The crown prince addressed his guest as my dear President Trump," and the Saudis played his campaign anthems God Bless the U.S.A. and YMCA during his appearance at an investment forum. For the U.S. Republican president, the visit was a return to the internation
President Donald Trump is opening 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 US efforts to dismantle Iran's nuclear programme, end the war in Gaza, hold down oil prices and more. The crown prince will fete Trump with a formal dinner and host a gathering of members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, which is made up of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. 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 Russia's war on Ukraine. 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 ...
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Tuesday condemned the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir as they co-chaired the Strategic Partnership Council, aimed at further strengthening the friendship between the two countries. Modi, who arrived in Jeddah on Tuesday on a two-day visit, delayed his scheduled meeting with the Crown Prince by at least two hours to assess the situation in Kashmir, where terrorists killed 26 people, mostly tourists, in what is the deadliest attack in the Valley since the Pulwama strike in 2019. Modi, who held bilateral talks with the Saudi Crown Prince, skipped an official dinner hosted and decided to cut short his visit and return home on Tuesday night, sources said. He was originally scheduled to return to India on Wednesday night. Earlier, Modi was accorded a ceremonial welcome at the Al Salam Palace (Palace of Peace), where he was received by Crown Prince Mohammed. The two leaders hugged as they greeted each other, ..
India and Saudi Arabia are set to sign at least six memoranda of understanding (MoUs) on Tuesday during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Jeddah, with talks ongoing late Monday to finalise a few more agreements, according to sources. Highly placed sources told PTI that Modi will also discuss issues relating to Hajj including the quota for Indian pilgrims during his meeting with Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud in the evening. Among the deliverables, the two sides are expected to sign agreements in the fields of space, energy, health, science and scientific research, culture and advanced technology. "Meetings in Riyadh continued late Monday to finalise details, with over a dozen MoUs under discussion, some to be signed at the official level," an official told PTI. Sources added that efforts were underway 24 hours before Modi's arrival to conclude additional trade, investment, and defence agreements. Modi will arrive on Tuesday aftern
President Joe Biden's national security adviser met early Sunday with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to discuss what the kingdom described as the semi-final version of a wide-ranging security agreement between the countries. The announcement by the state-run Saudi Press Agency comes as the strategic deal had been upended after Hamas' October 7 attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw 250 others taken hostage back to the Gaza Strip. In the time since, a punishing Israeli airstrike campaign and ground offensive there has killed over 35,000 Palestinians, endangering the security deal that had included Saudi Arabia diplomatically recognising Israel for the first time since its founding in 1948. Saudi state media released no images of Jake Sullivan and Prince Mohammed meeting in Dhahran, a city in the kingdom's far east that's home to its state-run oil giant, the Saudi Arabian Oil Co. known as Saudi Aramco. The semi-final version of the draft strategic agreemen
Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman's much-anticipated visit to Pakistan has been deferred for unspecified reasons, a report said on Saturday. He was earlier expected to arrive in Islamabad on May 19 on a two-day visit, Geo News reported. Commenting on the visit of the Saudi crown prince, Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zehra Baloch on Friday clarified that details of the visit will be made public as soon as a schedule is worked out between Islamabad and Riyadh. Baloch was confident that the visit would take place soon and surely be valuable as the people of Pakistan were anxiously waiting for the leader from the brotherly country. The high-level visit was likely to take place after the recent diplomatic and trade-related engagements between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia following Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's visit to the Kingdom in March. The expected visit of the top dignitary, which has now been delayed, possesses vital importance to cash-strapped Pakistan eyeing big ...