Riyadh:
Saudi Arabia’s King Salman and his son, de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, congratulated Donald Trump on his election victory on Wednesday, state media reported.
The 2 leaders despatched cables to Trump, who cultivated heat Saudi ties throughout his first administration. King Salman hailed “shut relations between the 2 pleasant international locations and peoples, which everybody seeks to strengthen and develop in all fields”, the official Saudi Press Company (SPA) mentioned.
In a while Wednesday, SPA reported that Prince Mohammed known as to congratulate Trump on his win and “expressed the dominion’s aspiration to strengthen the historic and strategic relations between the 2 international locations, wishing the pleasant American folks progress and prosperity below His Excellency’s management”.
After taking workplace in 2017, Trump rapidly courted Saudi Arabia, lengthy an necessary vitality and safety accomplice for Washington.
His first abroad go to was to the Saudi capital Riyadh, the place he basked in an elaborate welcome involving a sword dance and a fly-past of air pressure jets.
The honeymoon interval later cooled, with Prince Mohammed faulting Trump for failing to reply extra aggressively after a 2019 assault extensively blamed on Iran halved the Gulf kingdom’s crude output.
US President Joe Biden criticised Saudi Arabia harshly whereas on the marketing campaign path for human rights abuses together with the 2018 killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
However the relationship with Biden dramatically improved, and the 2 sides tried to barter a so-called mega-deal through which Saudi Arabia would recognise Israel in alternate for a defence pact with the US and assistance on a civilian nuclear programme.
That deal was placed on ice after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7 final 12 months, triggering struggle within the Gaza Strip.
Final week, Saudi Overseas Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan informed an investor discussion board in Riyadh that his authorities might probably transfer “fairly rapidly” on some bilateral agreements with Washington even when the mega-deal remained out of attain.
(Aside from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is revealed from a syndicated feed.)
