President Donald Trump and Saudi Arabia’s powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman held several meetings on both bilateral relations between the two allies, as well as regional challenges, including Iran’s destabilizing actions across the Middle East and the ongoing battle against the Islamic State. President Trump emphasized that opposed to his predecessor, who strained relations between Washington and Riyadh; the relations between the two countries has improved significantly. “we really have a great friendship, a great relationship. I would really have to say the relationship was, to put it mildly, was very, very strained during the Obama administration. And, the relationship now is probably as good as it has really ever been. And I think we’ll probably only get better,” Trump said.
On the matter of the ongoing battle against the Islamic State, President Trump noted that the U.S. led coalition has managed to capture close to 100 percent of the territory the extreme Muslim group once held; a fact that will soon allow the United States to pull its forces out of certain parts of the region. “As you know, ISIS is now–, we’ve recaptured almost 100 percent of the territory, as you probably have heard before anybody. But, we’ve captured close to 100 percent of the territory held by ISIS. We move very rapidly, very quickly. And, that’s really coming to an end in that part of the world. It’s coming to an end. And, we’ll be able to get out of certain areas that we’ve wanted to get out of for a long period of time. And, other countries can handle it. At this point, they will be able to handle it,” Trump said.
The visit of the Saudi crown prince is scheduled to last two more weeks, during which he is expected to hold meetings with members of the U.S. congress and advance in talks with the Trump Administration and the private sector on bolstering relations between the two countries.