Saudi Crown Prince and US’ Blinken have ‘candid’ talks in Jeddah

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had an “open, candid” conversation with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the early hours of Wednesday about a wide range of bilateral issues, a US official said.

The top US diplomat arrived in Saudi Arabia late on Tuesday for

a much-anticipated visit amid frayed ties

due to deepening disagreements on everything from Iran policy to regional security issues, oil prices and human rights.

Washington has struggled to steady its relationship with Riyadh, where the Crown Prince – the kingdom’s de facto ruler – has dominated the decision-making, and as the traditional oil-for-security alliance crumbled under the emergence of the United States as a major oil producer.

Mr Blinken’s visit came days after Saudi Arabia, the top crude exporter, pledged to deepen oil output cuts on top of

a broader Opec+ deal to limit supply,

as it seeks to boost flagging oil prices despite opposition from the US administration. Opec+ refers to the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies.

Mr Blinken and the Crown Prince met for an hour and 40 minutes, a US official said, covering topics such as Israel, the conflict in Yemen, unrest in Sudan, and human rights.

“There was a good degree of convergence on potential initiatives where we share the same interests, while also recognising where we have differences,” the official said.

A good part of the discussion was expected to be dominated by the possible normalisation of ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel, even though officials had played down the likelihood of any immediate or major progress on the issue.

“They discussed the potential for normalisation of relations with Israel and agreed to continued dialogue on the issue,” the official said, without providing further details.

In a speech in Washington on Monday before departing for Jeddah, Mr Blinken

cautioned that any breakthrough on the issue would not be immediate.

“We have no illusions that this can be done quickly or easily,” he said.

Saudi Arabia, a Middle East powerhouse and home to Islam’s two holiest shrines, gave its blessing to Gulf neighbours

United Arab Emirates and Bahrain establishing relations with Israel in 2020

under the previous US administration of Donald Trump.

Riyadh has not followed suit, saying Palestinian statehood goals should be addressed first. In April,

Saudi Arabia restored ties with Iran,

a regional rival and Israel’s arch-foe.

Nuclear technology

Developing a civilian nuclear programme is among Riyadh’s conditions for normalising ties with Israel, a source familiar with the discussions said, confirming a New York Times report from March. Saudi or US officials have not publicly confirmed this.

However, US officials have said in the past they would share nuclear power technology only if the agreement prevents enrichment of uranium or reprocessing of plutonium made in reactors – two routes to making nuclear weapons.

Riyadh has also leveraged its growing relationship with China as Washington pushed back against some of its demands, including lifting restrictions on arms sales and help with sensitive high-tech industries.

Two days after Mr Blinken’s visit, Riyadh will host a major Arab-Chinese investment conference.

Mr Jonathan Fulton, non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council think-tank, said China would help the Saudis in sectors where the US would not, but Riyadh’s relationship with Beijing did not have the same depth as with Washington.

“At this point I’d still characterise the US-Saudi relationship as strategic and the China-Saudi relationship as transactional,” Mr Fulton said.

In brief remarks before a meeting of Gulf Cooperation Council foreign ministers, Mr Blinken sought to reassure them of Washington’s focus on the region.

“The United States is in this region to stay and we remain deeply invested in partnering with all of you,” he said.

The Crown Prince and Mr Blinken also discussed Yemen and potential ways to resolve remaining issues, and Mr Blinken thanked the Crown Prince for the kingdom’s role in pushing for a ceasefire in Sudan and helping to evacuate US citizens.

Mr Blinken also raised human rights issues with the Crown Prince, the US official said, both on a broad level and relating to specific cases, without specifying which cases these were.

The kingdom has been pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into transforming and opening its economy to reduce dependence on crude oil. The reforms have been accompanied by a raft of arrests of critics of the Crown Prince, and of businessmen, clerics and rights activists.

Most recently in March, the Saudi authorities

released a US citizen jailed for 19 years for posting criticism of the government

on Twitter, but he has remained banned from travelling. REUTERS