US President Donald Trump is due to meet the heads of state of six Gulf countries while on a visit to Riyadh later this month, according to Al Arabiya news website.
Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE from May 13 to 16 will be the first foreign trip of his second term – other than a brief visit to Rome for the funeral of Pope Francis.
“Trump will meet the leaders of the GCC in Riyadh,” a Saudi government source said.
The goal of the meeting is to reinforce ‘political and economic co-operation’, the source said, requesting anonymity.
Ahead of the visit, the United States on Friday approved a $3.5 billion sale of missiles to Saudi Arabia.
The visit to Riyadh comes after the US and Iran had begun indirect negotiations on Tehran’s nuclear programme.
Trump has warned Iran that he would enforce sanctions while calling for the global boycott of ‘any amount’ of Iranian oil or petrochemicals, after a round of talks scheduled for this weekend was delayed.
The US president, who ripped up an earlier nuclear deal in 2018, has voiced hope at securing a fresh agreement to resolve concerns and stave off the possibility of an Israeli military strike on Iran.
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