What is the current military relationship between Saudi Arabia and the US?published at 17:25 GMT
Tom Bateman
US State Department correspondent
We’re just waiting on the two leaders to emerge for bilateral talks in the Oval Office. One thing likely to be on the agenda is bin Salman’s push for a defence agreement with the US. Tom Bateman looks at the current security relationship between the two countries.
The US has troops stationed at military bases across Saudi Arabia, including at the Prince Sultan Air Base south of Riyadh which contains US Patriot missile batteries.
Combined with its other bases in Gulf states, these make up Washington’s outsized role in the region’s security balance.
The US military presence in the kingdom has often been controversial.
But the bases, sitting across the Gulf from Iran, are intended to create deterrence against America’s adversaries; while providing protection to its allies – Israel and the Gulf Arab states.
That strategic relationship has, however, been under pressure, with both Iran and Israel having launched strikes on Qatar this year.
The Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia, want Washington to provide them with a more formal security pledge.
Qatar got that from Trump earlier this year. Now Mohammed bin Salman wants the same; plus his long-held desire for American F-35 fighter jets and progress on US backing for a Saudi civilian nuclear power programme.
