WASHINGTON (Reuters/SPA) – U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday on a mission to steady Washington’s relationship with Riyadh after years of deepening disagreements on a range of issues.
Blinken is scheduled to meet with top Saudi officials and possibly the kingdom’s de-facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, also known as MbS, during his time in Riyadh, the capital, and the coastal city of Jeddah, in what will be Washington’s second recent high-level visit. White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan traveled to Saudi Arabia on May 7.
The top U.S. diplomat’s June 6-8 visit to the world’s largest oil exporter comes days after Riyadh pledged to further cut oil production, a move likely to add tension to a U.S.-Saudi relationship already strained by the kingdom’s human rights record and disputes over America’s Iran policy.
The aims of the trip include regaining influence with Riyadh over oil prices, fending off Chinese and Russian influence in the region, and nurturing hopes for an eventual normalization of Saudi-Zionist ties.
Speaking at the pro-Zionist lobby group the American Israel Public Affairs Committee on Monday, Blinken said Washington had “a real national security interest” in advocating for the normalization of diplomatic relations between the Zionist regime and Saudi Arabia, but cautioned that it will not happen quickly.
Discouraging a closer Saudi-Chinese relationship is probably the most important element of Blinken’s visit, said Richard Goldberg, senior adviser at Washington-based think-tank, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD).
U.S.-Saudi ties were off to a rocky start in 2019 when President Joe Biden during his campaign said he would treat Riyadh like “the pariah that they are” if he was elected, and soon after taking office in 2021, released a U.S. intelligence assessment that Crown Prince Mohammed approved the operation to capture or kill journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.
A visit by Biden in July 2022 to the kingdom did little to ease tensions, and increasingly, Riyadh has looked to reassert its regional clout, while growing less interested in being aligned with U.S. priorities in the region.
The most recent example was when MbS gave a warm embrace to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad at an Arab League summit in May, which saw Arab states readmit Syria after a decade of suspension, a move that enraged Washington.
Meanwhile, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman held talks with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in Jeddah on Tuesday morning.
Maduro arrived in the Red Sea City on Monday and was received by the Deputy Governor of Makkah, Prince Badr bin Sultan, The National News reported.
He met Prince Mohammed on Tuesday morning, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
“During the meeting, they reviewed the bilateral relations between the two friendly countries, prospects for cooperation and opportunities to enhance it in various fields, and exchanged views on a number of issues of common concern,” SPA said.
Venezuela’s Foreign Minister Yvan Gil Pinto met his Saudi counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan on Monday.
They discussed ways to enhance international peace, security, and global sustainable development goals, SPA reported.