U.S. President Donald Trump will embark on the four-day Middle East tour in middle of next month, visiting Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), his spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday.
It will be his second foreign trip since returning to office, following his planned attendance at the Vatican for Pope Francis’s funeral on Saturday.
Trump “will travel to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates from May 13 until May 16,” Leavitt told a White House press briefing, without elaborating.
Saudi Arabia’s top diplomat held talks in Washington earlier this month to lay the groundwork for a visit by Trump in a reprisal of 2017, when the oil-rich, conservative kingdom was the first destination of his first term in office.
Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), promised in January to pile $600 billion into U.S. trade and investments.
Tuesday’s announcement comes as the White House is pursuing nuclear talks with Iran while threatening military action if they fail to reach a deal.
In 2018, Trump withdrew the United States from a landmark nuclear deal signed three years earlier that eased sanctions on Iran in return for curbs on its nuclear program.
Trump earlier on Tuesday said he had spoken with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and that they were united on issues including trade and Iran.
