US wants ‘strong’ Saudi Arabia: Pentagon chief

Riyadh : The United States wants to see a strong Saudi Arabia, Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said during talks yesterday aimed at reinvigorating the Riyadh-Washington alliance.

Mattis, meeting top officials in the Saudi capital, also hinted that President Donald Trump could visit the kingdom, a longtime US ally which has welcomed Washington’s firmer line against common adversary Iran.

“It is in our interest to see a strong Saudi Arabia,” Mattis said at the start of talks with Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the defence minister, pointing to the country’s “military security services and secret services.”

“What we can do here today could actually open the door possibly to bringing our president to Saudi Arabia,” Mattis said.

Mattis, a retired four-star Marine general, earlier met Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud at Al-Yamama Palace in Riyadh, where he told the monarch: “It’s good to be back.”

Mattis commanded troops during the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

He arrived in the kingdom on Tuesday afternoon to listen to Saudi leaders and learn “what are their priorities,” an American defence official said earlier.

The United States and Saudi Arabia have a decades-old relationship based on the exchange of American security for Saudi oil.

But ties between Riyadh and Washington became increasingly frayed during the administration of president Barack Obama.