WASHINGTON — The White House on Tuesday publicly confirmed President Donald Trump will visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates next month on the first foreign trip of his second term.
Trump’s visit to the Gulf countries will span May 13-16, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters during a briefing.
Why it matters: The upcoming visit comes as the Trump administration pursues a diplomatic reset with Iran over its nuclear program. US officials have sent mixed signals on their objectives, but most recently have underscored that the minimum goal is to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon — an objective backed up by the threat of military force.
The White House is likely keen to reassure Gulf Arab states, who remain under threat of Iranian retaliation if accused of supporting US or Israeli strikes on its nuclear sites.
Saudi Arabia was Trump’s first foreign destination during his first term as US president in 2017. Its de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, announced just days after Trump returned to office this past January that his kingdom aims to invest some $600 billion in the United States over the president’s second term.
In March, the White House said the UAE had floated aspirations to invest a staggering $1.4 trillion in US-based artificial intelligence infrastructure, semiconductors, manufacturing and natural gas production over the next decade. The announcement came after Trump hosted Emirati national security adviser Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed at the White House.
Riyadh’s request for US support to help vet and establish a nuclear energy program for the kingdom remains on track, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright told reporters during a visit to the kingdom last week.
Wright said the two countries would sign a memorandum of understanding later this year under Section 123 of a 1954 law that regulates US support for foreign nuclear energy programs. But he also suggested Saudi officials have been reluctant to abide by stipulations under the act, in particular agreeing to rule out enriching uranium domestically.
The Saudi crown prince told Fox News last year that the kingdom would pursue nuclear weapons if Iran were to obtain them.
The civil nuclear energy proposal was linked to a broader arrangement in the works during the Biden administration, under which the United States would provide formal defense guarantees for the kingdom in exchange for normalizing diplomatic ties with Israel. The latter step remains stalled due to the ongoing war in Gaza.
The Trump administration has approved new weapons sales to Saudi Arabia and Qatar: $100 million worth of air-to-air missiles and nearly $2 billion worth of MQ-9 drones, respectively.
Know more: Iran’s top negotiator, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, has also made an effort to encourage Trump’s diplomatic engagement. In a post this week on the social media platform X after the two sides met Sunday for the second time in Rome, Araghchi publicly invited the United States to invest in Iran’s plans to build 19 nuclear energy reactors worth tens of billions of dollars — an opportunity that he described as “up for grabs” for the Trump administration.
Gulf states have sought cautious rapprochement with regional rival Iran in recent years in a bid to avert direct conflict over their hosting of US military bases. Saudi Defense Minister Khaled bin Salman, the younger brother of Crown Prince Mohammed, met with Iranian defense officials and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran last week.
It was the first visit by a top Saudi official in nearly three decades.
This developing story has been updated since its initial publication.
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