The Washington Post :
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman kicked off his U.S. visit with talks and lunch at the White House, where President Trump displayed posters showing recent Saudi weapons purchases from the United States, saying that “we make the best equipment in the world.”
The $12.5 billion the Saudis were paying for planes, tanks, ships and munitions shown in the posters was “peanuts” for the oil-rich kingdom, Trump joked before cameras in the Oval Office. “You should have increased it,” he told Mohammed.
The poster’s list of finalized sales fell far short of the $110 billion figure that Trump cited during his visit to Riyadh last May, and some were initiated and approved during the Obama administration. Additional deals might still come to fruition.
Earlier, the prince went to the Capitol to meet with top congressional leaders, many of whom raised concerns over the Saudi-led coalition’s role in the war and massive humanitarian crisis in Yemen and the U.S. support role in the conflict.
“We talked about the importance of our relationship, no doubt,” Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a floor statement after his own session with Mohammed. “But we strongly, strongly pushed back on what is happening right now in Yemen and asked them to take strong corrective actions.”
Lawmakers have sharply criticized the war Saudi Arabia has waged with U.S. support over the past several years in Yemen, in which at least 1,000 civilians have been killed in bombing attacks. Sen. Robert Menendez (N.J.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called for a political solution.
“We also talked about the enrichment that they’re pursuing and some of the concerns that existed there,” Corker said, touching on a disagreement over whether Saudi Arabia should insist on retaining its option to enrich domestic uranium resources under a nuclear cooperation agreement. The deadlock over an agreement has been an obstacle to the ability of firms using U.S. material or technology to bid on construction contracts for a pair of electricity-producing reactors the Saudis want to build.
In group meetings on Capitol Hill, Mohammed spent more than two hours in 20- to 30-minute sessions with the congressional leaders and heads of national security committees from both sides of the aisle.
Vice President Pence and H.R. McMaster, the president’s national security adviser, planned dinners in Mohammed’s honor, as did the Saudi ambassador to the United States, Khalid bin Salman, the crown prince’s brother.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman kicked off his U.S. visit with talks and lunch at the White House, where President Trump displayed posters showing recent Saudi weapons purchases from the United States, saying that “we make the best equipment in the world.”
The $12.5 billion the Saudis were paying for planes, tanks, ships and munitions shown in the posters was “peanuts” for the oil-rich kingdom, Trump joked before cameras in the Oval Office. “You should have increased it,” he told Mohammed.
The poster’s list of finalized sales fell far short of the $110 billion figure that Trump cited during his visit to Riyadh last May, and some were initiated and approved during the Obama administration. Additional deals might still come to fruition.
Earlier, the prince went to the Capitol to meet with top congressional leaders, many of whom raised concerns over the Saudi-led coalition’s role in the war and massive humanitarian crisis in Yemen and the U.S. support role in the conflict.
“We talked about the importance of our relationship, no doubt,” Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a floor statement after his own session with Mohammed. “But we strongly, strongly pushed back on what is happening right now in Yemen and asked them to take strong corrective actions.”
Lawmakers have sharply criticized the war Saudi Arabia has waged with U.S. support over the past several years in Yemen, in which at least 1,000 civilians have been killed in bombing attacks. Sen. Robert Menendez (N.J.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called for a political solution.
“We also talked about the enrichment that they’re pursuing and some of the concerns that existed there,” Corker said, touching on a disagreement over whether Saudi Arabia should insist on retaining its option to enrich domestic uranium resources under a nuclear cooperation agreement. The deadlock over an agreement has been an obstacle to the ability of firms using U.S. material or technology to bid on construction contracts for a pair of electricity-producing reactors the Saudis want to build.
In group meetings on Capitol Hill, Mohammed spent more than two hours in 20- to 30-minute sessions with the congressional leaders and heads of national security committees from both sides of the aisle.
Vice President Pence and H.R. McMaster, the president’s national security adviser, planned dinners in Mohammed’s honor, as did the Saudi ambassador to the United States, Khalid bin Salman, the crown prince’s brother.
