Saudi crown prince returns to Washington for high-profile Trump meeting

US President Donald Trump is set to fete Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Tuesday when the de facto leader of Saudi Arabia makes his first White House visit since the 2018 killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agentsThe USSaudi relationship had been sent into a tailspin by the operation targeting Khashoggi a fierce critic of the kingdom that US intelligence agencies later determined Prince Mohammed likely directed the agents to carry outBut seven years later the dark clouds over the relationship have been cleared awayAnd Trump has tightened his embrace of the 40yearold crown prince he views as an indispensable player in shaping the Middle East in the decades to comePrince Mohammed for his part denies involvement in the killing of Khashoggi a Saudi citizen and Virginia residentKhashoggi will likely be an afterthought as the two leaders unveil billions of dollars in deals and huddle with aides to discuss the tricky path ahead in a volatile Middle EastTheyll end their day with an evening White House soiree organised by first lady Melania Trump to honour the princeThey have been a great ally Trump said of the Saudis on the eve of the visitAhead of Prince Mohammeds arrival Trump announced he has agreed to sell the Saudis F35 fighter jets despite some concerns within the administration that the sale could lead to China gaining access to the US technology behind the advanced weapon systemTrumps announcement is also surprising because some in the Republican administration have been wary about upsetting Israels qualitative military edge over its neighbours especially at a time when Trump is depending on Israeli support for the success of his Gaza peace planBut the unexpected move comes at a moment when Trump is trying to nudge the Saudis toward normalising relations with IsraelThe president in his first term had helped forge commercial and diplomatic ties between Israel and Bahrain Morocco and the United Arab Emirates through an effort dubbed the Abraham AccordsTrump sees expansion of the accords as essential to his broader efforts to build stability in the Middle East after the twoyear IsraelHamas war in GazaAnd getting Saudi Arabia the largest Arab economy and the birthplace of Islam to sign on would create an enormous domino effect he arguesThe president in recent weeks has even predicted that once Saudi Arabia signs on to the accords everybody in the Arab world goes inBut the Saudis have maintained that a clear path toward Palestinian statehood must first be established before normalising relations with Israel can be consideredThe Israelis meanwhile remain steadfastly opposed to the creation of a Palestinian stateThe UN Security Council on Monday approved a US plan for Gaza that authorises an international stabilisation force to provide security in the devastated territory and envisions a possible future path to an independent Palestinian stateThe leaders certainly will have plenty to talk about including maintaining the fragile ceasefire in Gaza mutual concerns about Irans malign behaviour and a brutal civil war in SudanAnd the Saudis are looking to receive formal assurances from Trump defining the scope of US military protection for the kingdom even though anything not ratified by Congress can be undone by the next presidentPrince Mohammed 40 who has stayed away from the West after the Khashoggi killing is also looking to reestablish his position as a global player and a leader determined to diversify the Saudi economy away from oil by investing in sectors like mining technology and tourismTo that end Saudi Arabia is expected to announce a multibillion dollar investment in US artificial intelligence infrastructure and the two countries will lay out details about new cooperation in the civil nuclear energy sector according to a senior Trump administration who was not authorised to comment publicly ahead of the formal announcementI think the challenge for us as Americans is to try to convince someone like MBS that the trajectory of Saudi Arabia ought to look more like South Korea than say China said Bernard Haykel a professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University speaking at a Carnegie Endowment for International Peace event on MondayThat ultimately political repression of political dissent is not good for business Its not good for attracting foreign direct investment its not good for your image if youre a tourism destinationBut this weeks warm embrace by Trump might provide a counterfactual to that argument for the crown princeIn addition to White House pomp the two nations are also planning an investment summit at the Kennedy Center on Wednesday that will include the heads of Salesforce Qualcomm Pfizer the Cleveland Clinic Chevron and Aramco Saudi Arabias national oil and natural gas company where even more deals with the Saudis could be announcedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability 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