{"id":27811,"date":"2025-11-17T18:04:20","date_gmt":"2025-11-17T18:04:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=27811"},"modified":"2025-11-17T18:04:20","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T18:04:20","slug":"mbs-visits-white-house-to-boost-oil-security-and-high-tech-cooperation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=27811","title":{"rendered":"MBS visits White House to boost oil, security and high-tech\u00a0cooperation"},"content":{"rendered":"
A visit by Saudi Arabia\u2019s de facto ruler to the White House for talks on Tuesday with US President Donald Trump aims to deepen decades-old cooperation on oil and security while expanding ties in commerce, technology and potentially nuclear energy.<\/p>\n

It will be Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman\u2019s first trip to the United States since the 2018 killing of Saudi critic Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents in Istanbul. US intelligence concluded that MBS approved the capture or killing of Khashoggi. MBS denied ordering the operation but acknowledged responsibility as the kingdom\u2019s de facto ruler.<\/p>\n

More than seven years later, the world\u2019s largest economy and the world\u2019s top oil producer want to move forward. Trump is seeking to cash in on a $600 billion Saudi investment pledge made during his visit to the kingdom in May. He avoided raising human rights concerns at that time and is expected to do so again.<\/p>\n

The Saudi leader is seeking security guarantees amid regional turmoil, as well as access to artificial intelligence technology and progress toward a civilian nuclear programme.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a page that has been turned\u201d on Khashoggi\u2019s killing, said Aziz Alghashian, a Saudi-based lecturer in international relations at Naif Arab University for Security Sciences.<\/p>\n

Focus on defence deal <\/p>\n

The United States and Saudi Arabia have long had an arrangement in which the kingdom sells oil at favourable prices in exchange for US security. That equation was shaken by Washington\u2019s failure to act when Iran struck Saudi oil installations in 2019. Concerns resurfaced in September when Israel struck Doha, Qatar, in what it said was an attack on Hamas members.<\/p>\n

Afterwards, Trump signed a defence pact with Qatar via executive order. Many analysts, diplomats and regional officials believe the Saudis will get something similar.<\/p>\n

Saudi Arabia has sought a US defence pact ratified by Congress. Washington has tied this to the kingdom normalizing ties with Israel. Riyadh, in turn, has linked normalization to a commitment from Israel\u2019s right-wing government to Palestinian statehood.<\/p>\n

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who agreed last month to a Trump-brokered ceasefire with Hamas in Gaza after two years of war, on Sunday reaffirmed his opposition to Palestinian independence.<\/p>\n

An executive order similar to the Qatar pact would fall short of what Riyadh wants. But Alghashian said it would \u201cbe a step on the way, part of the process, not the end of the process.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Western diplomat based in the Gulf summarized: \u201cTrump wants normalization and Saudi wants a full defence pact, but the circumstances don\u2019t allow. In the end, both sides will likely get less than they want. That\u2019s diplomacy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dennis Ross, a former Middle East negotiator for Democratic and Republican administrations, said he expects an executive order calling for the United States and Saudi Arabia \u201cto immediately consult on what to do in response to the threat,\u201d without committing Washington to defend the kingdom.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat could run the gamut from providing assistance, replacing arms, deploying missile batteries like THAAD or Patriot, deploying naval forces with a Marine unit \u2013 to actively taking part in combat,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Deals key amid regional rivalry <\/p>\n

Riyadh is also pressing for deals in nuclear energy and artificial intelligence under its Vision 2030 plan to diversify its economy and strengthen its position relative to regional rivals.<\/p>\n

Securing approval to acquire advanced computer chips would be critical to its ambitions to become a global AI hub and compete with the United Arab Emirates, which in June signed a multibillion-dollar US data centre deal granting access to high-end chips.<\/p>\n

MBS also wants a deal with Washington on developing a Saudi civilian nuclear programme as part of efforts to move beyond oil. Such an agreement would unlock US nuclear technology, strengthen security ties and help Saudi Arabia keep pace with the UAE \u2014 which already has a programme \u2014 and Iran.<\/p>\n

But talks have stalled because the Saudis did not want to accept US conditions that would rule out enriching uranium or reprocessing spent fuel, both potential paths to a nuclear weapon.<\/p>\n

Ross said he expects an announcement of an agreement on nuclear energy, or at least a statement showing progress.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A visit by Saudi Arabia\u2019s de facto ruler to the White House for talks on Tuesday with US President Donald Trump aims to deepen decades-old cooperation on oil and security while expanding ties in commerce, technology and potentially nuclear energy. It will be Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman\u2019s first trip to the United States since […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27811\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}