US President Barack Obama led a powerful delegation to Saudi Arabia yesterday to meet new King Salman and discussed the two countries’ ongoing fight against the Islamic State group.
The leaders also tackled the issue of Iran’s nuclear programme and human rights in the conservative kingdom, a senior US official said.
Riyadh has been part of the US-led coalition carrying out air strikes against IS since last year and is a long-time regional ally of Washington.
There has also been unease in the Oil rich kingdom about Obama’s pursuit of a nuclear deal with Shiite-dominated Iran, the regional rival of Sunni-majority Saudi Arabia.
Members of the 29-member bipartisan US delegation, which included former Bush-era officials, said they wanted to show support for the US-Saudi relationship.
“I believe it is important that we demonstrate to the Saudis the importance that they represent to us,” said James Baker, secretary of state during the first Gulf War against Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussain.
“This is an extraordinarily critical and sensitive time in the Middle East when everything seems to be falling apart. And the kingdom in some way is becoming an island of stability,” said Baker.
The Americans arrived for a four-hour stop from India, where Obama cut short a state visit following the death Friday of Salman’s predecessor, King Abdullah.
Saudi television showed Salman, 79, welcoming Obama and his wife Michelle at the bottom of a red-carpeted ramp before a military band played the US and Saudi national anthems.
In contrast to Saudi women, required to dress head-to-toe in black, Mrs Obama wore dark slacks and a blue top with her hair uncovered.
“Good to see you,” Obama repeatedly said to his Saudi hosts before they dined on Arabic and Western dishes including shish tawook and baked lobster.
A senior US official said Obama and Salman discussed “the campaign against the Islamic State… the need to continue providing support to the opposition in Syria (and) the need to promote unity in Iraq”.
