Next week’s trip will be the first by the top US diplomat to the kingdom since the Iran-Saudi normalization deal.
washington dc – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Saudi Arabia next week, his first trip to the kingdom since Tehran and Riyadh agreed to restore diplomatic ties in a deal brokered by Beijing.
The State Department said on Friday that the top US diplomat will meet with Saudi officials and attend Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) talks during his visit, starting on June 6.
Blinken “will discuss strategic cooperation between the US and Saudi Arabia on regional and global issues and a range of bilateral issues, including economic and security cooperation,” the State Department said in a statement.
He is also scheduled to co-host a meeting of the global coalition against ISIL (ISIS) to “address the continuing threat of ISIS and reaffirm our commitment to ensure its lasting defeat,” the department added.
US officials have repeatedly affirmed their commitment to the alliance with Saudi Arabia and to the kingdom’s security. Since Riyadh’s normalization agreement with Tehran, they have also cautiously welcomed rapprochement.
“From our perspective, anything that can help reduce tensions, avoid conflict, and in some way curb dangerous or destabilizing actions by Iran is a good thing,” Blinken said in March after the announcement of the agreement
More recently, Saudi Arabia and the US have cooperated in Sudan, where they have pushed for a ceasefire between the African country’s warring sides.
Friday’s statement announcing Blinken’s visit did not mention Yemen, where Washington says it has advocated for an end to the years-long conflict pitting Saudi Arabia and its partners against the country’s Houthi rebels, allied with Iran.
Saudi Arabia and the Houthis began direct talks in April, leading to a prisoner exchange deal, following the kingdom’s deal with Iran.
Earlier this week, Barbara Leaf, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, told US senators during a briefing that the Iran-Saudi deal is just a “detente”.
“It’s not a reconciliation, a great rapprochement or full normalization,” Leaf said.
In fact, the two countries had agreed to a full normalization of relations and the resumption of diplomatic relations.
Leaf also downplayed China’s role in securing the deal. “This agreement, I would stipulate, was not negotiated by the Chinese; they welcomed it. The Iranians and the Saudis made all the arrangements and discussions themselves,” he said.
Leaf added that the deal was mainly focused on Yemen, as the Saudis push for a broader calm in the region to “pursue their project of socio-economic modernization”.
At a time when ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran are heating up, tensions have risen between Tehran and Washington. Diplomacy has stalled between the two countries as Iran moves forward with its nuclear program.
Despite the Tehran-Riyadh deal, US officials say they continue to push for normalization between the kingdom and Israel.
“We have unlocked Saudi and Omani airspace for civilian flights there from Israel and Asia, a step on the way to what we hope will become full normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia,” he said US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan in a speech. last month.
