Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, would discuss with US President Donald Trump in Washington on Tuesday delicate files, including Iranian interference and its support to armed militias in some Arab countries.
Prince Mohammed will also meet with US Vice President Mike Pence and White House officials.
In a press conference at the Saudi Embassy in Washington on Monday, Jubeir said the Crown Prince would visit seven cities, including Washington, New York, Boston, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and possibly Seattle.
Discussions with US officials will touch on the situation in Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Libya, as well as Saudi Vision 2030 and the aspirations of the Saudi youth, who represent up to 70 percent of the Kingdom’s population.
The Saudi minister stressed that his country was seeking to achieve peace in the Middle East, while Iran, on the other hand, was spreading “darkness in the region.”
“We believe that light will defeat darkness,” he stated.
As for the moves in the US Congress to question Saudi Arabia’s role in Yemen, Jubeir said that his country was seeking to correct some perceptions about the conflict in Yemen.
“A lot of (the issues) we have in Yemen is more perception than reality,” he said, adding: “The reality is that we didn’t start this war, we didn’t want this war – it was imposed upon us.”
He noted that Houthi militias collaborated with Iran, armed children, threatened peace in Yemen, closed the maritime border, seized ports, put children on battle frontlines and destroyed the country with arms and rockets, stressing that all developments happening along the Kingdom’s southern borders were threats to Saudi security.
Jubeir said that his country has investigated many of the mistakes committed in Yemen, announced their results and assumed responsibility. It was maintaining its support to the Yemeni people by all means, while Houthi militias continued to harm and destroy the country.
On the latest developments in Syria, the foreign minister emphasized the Saudi stance in support of a solution that guarantees the rights of the Syrians, based on international resolutions and the Geneva talks, indicating that Russia was working to push Syrian regime head Bashar Assad to commit to the political process and end the war.
With regards to Palestinian affairs, Jubeir said that the Kingdom considered this file to be a fundamental issue and no concessions can be made over it. He underlined the need to preserve the rights of the Palestinians and to support the two-state solution.
