Moon Desk: Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Jeddah, the Saudi Press Agency reported early Wednesday. The pair discussed ways to enhance cooperation and bilateral relations in various fields, and efforts toward the latest regional and International developments.
Senior Saudi and US officials attended the meeting. Blinken arrived in Jeddah on Tuesday. His trip comes as the Kingdom and US seek to broker a durable cease-fire between Sudan’s warring generals in ongoing talks in Jeddah.
Blinken will participate in a US-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) ministerial meeting to discuss growing cooperation with Gulf partners and how they can promote security, stability, de-escalation, regional integration, and economic opportunities across the Middle East, spokesman Matt Miller said.
The state secretary and Saudi foreign minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan will co-host a ministerial meeting of the Global Coalition to Defeat Daesh “to address the continuing threat of (Daesh) and reaffirm our commitment to ensure its enduring defeat,” he added.US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was to meet Gulf Arab officials in Saudi Arabia today at a time of rapidly shifting alliances following the oil-rich kingdom’s rapprochement with Iran.Blinken will attend a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) ministerial meeting in the capital Riyadh, a day after he flew into Jeddah and held talks with Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler Mohammed bin Salman, in which he raised human rights issues. Relations between Washington and Riyadh, decades-old allies, have been strained in recent times mainly over human rights and oil, after US pleas for help in bringing down skyrocketing prices last year were dismissed.
The three-day visit is Blinken’s first since the kingdom restored diplomatic ties with Iran, which the West considers a pariah over its contested nuclear activities and involvement in regional conflicts.
On Tuesday, the day Blinken arrived, Iran reopened its embassy in Riyadh after a seven-year closure, with Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister cont page 2
