US President Donald Trump has feted Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as the de facto leader of Saudi Arabia made his first White House visit since 2018.
Trump rolled out the red carpet for the prince on Tuesday with a fly-by, gun salute and a planned gala dinner later — giving the Saudi the equivalent of a state dinner.
He welcomed Prince Mohammed with a handshake and arm slung over his shoulder.
Trump has made a priority of boosting ties with the oil-rich Gulf kingdom, and said on Monday he would sell coveted F-35 stealth fighters to Saudi Arabia, despite objections from Israel and Zionist groups in US.
In another area of past contention, he will sign a deal on a framework for civilian nuclear cooperation, a source familiar with the negotiations said.
Trump will also push Prince Mohammed to normalise relations with Israel as he seeks a wider Middle East peace deal after Israel suspended genocide in besieged Gaza.
"We're more than meeting," Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Friday when asked about the visit.
"We're honoring Saudi Arabia, the Crown Prince."
The 40-year-old prince has fostered close ties with Trump and his family over the years — a relationship burnished by a lavish welcome and $600 billion in investment pledges when the president visited Saudi Arabia in May.
Security guarantees
Prince Mohammed will have his own agenda, seeking firmer US security guarantees after Israeli attacks in September on Qatar, an iron-clad US ally, rattled the wealthy Gulf region.
Along with the F-35 jets, Riyadh is seeking to buy advanced air and missile defence systems. It will also push hard for access to the high-tech chips it needs to fuel its AI ambitions, experts say.
But Saudi Arabia is unlikely to agree to normalisation with Israel at this stage, despite Trump's aim for the grand prize of Riyadh joining the so-called Abraham Accords that he launched in his first term.
"We have a lot of people joining the Abraham Accords and hopefully we are going to get Saudi Arabia very soon," Trump said earlier this month.
Potential Saudi moves towards normalisation in return for security and energy guarantees were put on hold after the outbreak of Israel's genocide in Gaza in October 2023.
Riyadh appears in no mood to budge without any progress on its international push for a Palestinian state.
Former US Ambassador Barbara A. Leaf told TRT World that Saudi Crown Prince agreeing to normalise relations with Israel through the Abraham Accords is highly unlikely.
"This is premature, given the state of Gaza, the fragile nature of the ceasefire, and the fact that the requirements have not been settled for movement from Phase I to Phase II," Ambassador Leaf, an Assistant Secretary of State during Biden administration and now senior international policy advisor at Washington-based law firm Arnold and Porter, said.
Despite that, Trump will look to underscore the "bromance" with Prince Mohammed that both leaders have been keen to show off since the president's return to office.
Trump is also expected to attend a US-Saudi investment forum spotlighting energy and artificial intelligence taking place in Washington on Wednesday.
The Republican president's family also has extensive business ties with the Saudis.
The day before the prince's visit, Saudi developer Dar Global announced a new partnership with the Trump Organization to build a luxury hotel in the Maldives.
Investors will be able to participate in its financing through digital tokens.
