Trump rolls out lavish welcome for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman
A roaring F-35 flypast marks his arrival — very jets Washington is preparing to sell
Washington: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman received a red carpet welcome from President Donald Trump on Tuesday.
Trump laid on a noisy military flypast featuring F-35 stealth fighters that Washington will sell to Riyadh as Crown Prince arrived at the White House.
Cannon fire and a parade of horses also greeted the Saudi Crown Prince as Trump doubles down on Washington's burgeoning alliance -- and his own personal bond -- with the key ally.
Portugal soccer legend Cristiano Ronaldo, who plays in Saudi Arabia, will also be at the White House for the gala day of events, a White House official told AFP.
Trump has made a priority of boosting ties with the kingdom, and said on Monday he would sell coveted F-35 stealth fighters to Saudi Arabia, calling it a "great ally."
Trump will sign a deal on a framework for civilian nuclear cooperation, a US official and a source familiar with the negotiations said.
'Honouring Saudi Arabia'
The Saudi Crown 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.
Saudi Arabia is also expected to announce a "multi-billion dollar investment" in AI infrastructure in the United States on Tuesday, the US official added.
Trump will meanwhile push Crown Prince Mohammed to normalise relations with Israel as he seeks a wider Middle East peace deal after the war in Gaza.
"We're more than meeting," Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Friday when asked about the visit. "We're honouring Saudi Arabia, the Crown Prince."
Along with the F-35 jets, Riyadh is seeking to buy advanced air and missile defense systems. It will also push hard for access to the high-tech chips it needs to fuel its AI ambitions, experts said.
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 Abraham Accords that he launched in his first term.
Potential Saudi moves towards normalisation in return for security and energy guarantees were put on hold after the outbreak of Israel's devastating war in Gaza in October 2023.
Riyadh appears in no mood to budge without any progress on its international push for a Palestinian state.
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