[1/5] Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (L) meets with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Jeddah June 7, 2023 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Amer Hilabi/Pool via Portal
JEDDA, Saudi Arabia, June 7 (Portal) – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held a “frank, frank” discussion with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on a variety of bilateral issues in the early hours of Wednesday, a US said -Official .
The top US diplomat arrived in Saudi Arabia late Tuesday for a much-anticipated visit amid growing disagreements over everything from Iran policy to regional security issues, oil prices and human rights.
Washington has struggled to stabilize ties with Riyadh, where de facto ruler Prince Mohammed dominated decision-making and the traditional oil-for-safety alliance collapsed amid the United States’ emergence as a major oil producer.
Blinken’s visit comes days after top crude exporter Saudi Arabia pledged to tighten oil production on top of a broader OPEC+ deal to limit supply as the country seeks to boost falling oil prices despite US government opposition .
Blinken and the crown prince, known as MbS, met for an hour and 40 minutes, a US official said, and discussed issues including Israel, the conflict in Yemen, unrest in Sudan and human rights.
“There has been a good degree of convergence on potential initiatives where we share the same interests while also acknowledging where we have differences,” the US official said.
Much of the discussion was expected to be dominated by the possible normalization of Saudi Arabia-Israel relations, although officials downplayed the likelihood of immediate or greater progress on the issue.
“They discussed the possibility of normalizing relations with Israel and agreed to continue dialogue on this issue,” the US official said, without giving further details.
In a speech in Washington Monday before leaving for Jeddah, Blinken warned that a breakthrough on the issue would not be immediate. “We have no illusions that this can be done quickly or easily,” he said.
Saudi Arabia, a powerhouse in the Middle East and home to Islam’s two holiest sanctuaries, gave its blessing to Gulf neighbors the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain to begin ties with Israel in 2020 under the previous US administration of Donald Trump.
Riyadh did not follow suit, saying the goals of Palestinian statehood should be addressed first. In April, Saudi Arabia restored ties with Iran, a regional rival and archenemy of Israel.
NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY
Developing a civilian nuclear program is among Riyadh’s conditions for normalizing ties with Israel, a source familiar with the discussions said, confirming a March New York Times report. Saudi or US officials have not publicly confirmed this.
However, US officials have said in the past that they would only pass on nuclear power technology if the deal prevented the enrichment of uranium or the reprocessing of plutonium made in reactors – two routes to making nuclear weapons.
Riyadh has also capitalized on its growing ties with China, as Washington rejected some of its demands, including lifting restrictions on arms sales and supporting sensitive high-tech industries.
Two days after Blinken’s visit, Riyadh will host a major Arab-Chinese investment conference.
Jonathan Fulton, a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, said China will help the Saudis in areas where the United States would not, but that ties between Riyadh and Beijing do not have the same depth as with Washington.
“At this point, I would still characterize the US-Saudi Arabia relationship as strategic and the China-Saudi Arabia relationship as transactional,” Fulton said.
In brief remarks ahead of a meeting of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) foreign ministers, Blinken tried to persuade them that Washington was focused on the region.
“The United States will remain in this region and we remain keen to work with all of you,” he said.
MbS and Blinken also discussed Yemen and potential ways to resolve remaining issues, while Blinken thanked the Crown Prince for the Kingdom’s role in enforcing a ceasefire in Sudan and evacuating US citizens.
Blinken also raised human rights issues with MbS, the US official said, both broadly and in relation to specific cases, but without specifying which cases.
The kingdom has poured hundreds of billions of dollars into transforming and opening up its economy to reduce its dependence on crude oil. The reforms have been accompanied by a series of arrests of MbS critics, as well as businessmen, clergy and rights activists.
Most recently, in March, the Saudi authorities released a US citizen who had been sentenced to 19 years in prison for posting criticism of the government on Twitter, but was still banned from entering the country.
Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk and Aziz El Yaakoubi and Maha El Dahan; Edited by Raju Gopalakrishnan, Mark Potter and Emelia Sithole-Matarise
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Humeyra Pamuk