Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has received a warm welcome to the White House from United States President Donald Trump in a visit that has emphasised the deepening ties between Riyadh and Washington.

The White House rolled the literal red carpet out for Prince Mohammed, known as MBS, on Tuesday. Trump greeted him with a ceremony that featured marching bands, flag-carrying horsemen and a military flyover.

The opulent display of hospitality signalled Trump’s embrace of what he sees as a new Middle East driven by financial investments and US partnerships with allies in the region, chiefly Saudi Arabia.

After Prince Mohammed’s arrival through the South Portico, he and Trump took questions from journalists in the Oval Office. The two leaders spoke of business opportunities, peace, artificial intelligence and the tech business.

The apparent challenges in the region, including the continuing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, appeared to take a back seat during their Oval Office appearance. Here are the key takeaways from the meeting:

In recent months, Trump has repeatedly said he would like Saudi Arabia to join the so-called Abraham Accords, which established formal relations between Israel and several Arab countries.

On Tuesday, Prince Mohammed and Trump signalled possible progress on the issue without providing details or a timeline for a potential deal. The crown prince, however, did reiterate that Riyadh wants to advance the establishment of a Palestinian state as part of a potential agreement.

“We believe having a good relation with all Middle Eastern countries is a good thing, and we want to be part of the Abraham Accords,” Prince Mohammed told reporters.

“But we want also to be sure that we secure a clear path [to a] two-state solution. And today we have a healthy discussion with Mr President that we’ve got to work on that, to be sure that we can prepare the right situation as soon as possible to have that.”

Saudi officials have previously stressed that Riyadh is committed to the Arab Peace Initiative, which conditions the recognition of Israel on the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Trump said he had “good talks” with Prince Mohammed about the issue.

“We talked about one state, two states. We talked about a lot of things. In a short period of time, we’ll be discussing it further too,” the US president said.

When asked whether the US and Saudi Arabia have reached a defence deal, Trump said: “We pretty much have. We have reached an agreement on that.”

The details of the negotiation are not clear, but Riyadh has been seeking a mutual defence pact with Washington akin to NATO’s Article Five, which would see the US come to the kingdom’s aid if it fell under attack.

Trump had confirmed on Monday that he will authorise the sale of F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia.

During the meeting with MBS, he said the jets would not be downgraded to ensure Israel’s military superiority in the region, a departure from a US policy known as “qualitative military edge”.

“They’d like you to get planes of reduced calibre. I don’t think that makes you too happy,” he told the Saudi crown prince.

“They’ve been a great ally. Israel has been a great ally, and we’re looking at that exactly right now. But as far as I’m concerned, I think they are both at a level where they should get top of the line.”

Trump once again expressed pride in the US strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities in June.

“We did that on behalf of everybody, and the outcome was extraordinary because we have the best pilots, the best equipment, the best planes, the best everything,” he said.

The US president later shifted to a softer tone on Iran, saying Tehran is seeking a diplomatic resolution with Washington, which has sought the dismantlement of its nuclear programme.

“I am totally open to it, and we’re talking to them,” Trump said.

“And we start a process. But it would be a nice thing to have a deal with Iran. And we could have done it before the war, but that didn’t work out. And something will happen there, I think.”

Saudi Arabia’s official news agency, SPA, had reported that MBS had received a handwritten letter addressed to him from Iranian President Masood Pezeshkian before his trip to Washington. No details were available about its content.

On Tuesday, Prince Mohammed said Saudi Arabia would back a US-Iran deal.

“We will do our best to help to reach a deal between the United States of America and Iran,” he told reporters. “And we believe it’s good for Iran’s future to have a good deal that would satisfy the region and the world and the United States of America.”

At the outset of the two leaders’ public remarks, Trump expressed gratitude for anticipated Saudi investments in the US, which he said will be in the hundreds of billions of dollars.

“I want to thank you because you’ve agreed to invest $600bn into the United States. And because he’s my friend, he might make it $1 trillion, but I’m going to have to work on him,” Trump said.

He added that the Saudi funds will create jobs and resources for US companies and Wall Street investment firms.

For his part, MBS said the Saudi investments in the US will likely rise to $1 trillion.

“The agreement that we are signing today in many areas – in technology and AI, in rare materials, magnet, etc – that will create a lot of investment opportunities,” he said.

The crown prince echoed Trump’s assessment that the US is now the “hottest country” in the world, adding that the kingdom wants to be part of the “foundation of emerging technologies” in the US.

Trump and MBS were all smiles as they exchanged flattering comments from the moment the crown prince arrived at the White House.

At one point, Trump reached for Prince Mohammed’s hand and held it as he criticised his predecessor, former US President Joe Biden, for giving MBS only a fist bump when he visited Riyadh during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021.

“I grabbed that hand. I don’t give a hell where that hand’s been,” Trump said.

The US president described the Saudi crown prince as “fantastic” and “brilliant”.

“We have an extremely respected man in the Oval Office today, and a friend of mine for a long time – very good friend of mine,” Trump said.

“I’m very proud of the job he’s done. What he’s done is incredible in terms of human rights and everything else.”

The US president went on to rebuke an ABC News reporter for asking a challenging question of Prince Mohammed, accusing her of disrespecting his guest.

When the same journalist later asked Trump why he would not voluntarily release government files related to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Trump said ABC News’s broadcasting licence should be revoked.

“You start off with a man who is highly respected, asking him a horrible, insubordinate and just a terrible question,” Trump said, referring to the earlier question to MBS.

“And you could even ask that same exact question nicely. You’re all psyched. Somebody psyched you over at ABC. You’re going to psych it. You’re a terrible person and a terrible reporter.”

About the same time as Trump welcomed MBS, the US House of Representatives passed a bill to compel the release of the Epstein files.

[Aljazeera]