President Donald Trump has accused Saudi Arabia of not treating the United States ‘fairly’.
In an interview with Reuters, Trump remarked that Washington was losing a ‘tremendous amount of money’ defending the kingdom.
"Frankly, Saudi Arabia has not treated us fairly, because we are losing a tremendous amount of money in defending Saudi Arabia," he said.
The President also confirmed that his administration was in talks about possible visits to Riyadh and Israel in the second half of May.
The United States is the main supplier for most Saudi military needs, from F-15 fighters to control and command systems worth tens of billions of dollars in recent years, while American contractors win major energy deals.
The world's top oil exporter and its biggest consumer have enjoyed close economic ties for decades, with US firms building much of the infrastructure of the modern Saudi state after its oil boom in the 1970s.
At a campaign rally in Wisconsin a year ago, Trump had said that ‘they (Saudi Arabia) was not paying us a fair price’.
At that time, Saudi’s Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir had rejected Trump’s comments saying ‘the Islamic kingdom carries its own weight as an ally’.
Saudi Arabia's powerful deputy crown prince Mohammed bin Salman met with Trump last month in a meeting that was hailed by a senior Saudi adviser as a ‘historical turning point’ in relations. The talks appeared to signal a meeting of minds on many issues, including their shared view that Iran posed a regional security threat.
When asked about the fight against Islamic State, which Saudi Arabia and other US allies are confronting as a coalition, Trump said that the militant group had to be defeated.
"I have to say, there is an end. And it has to be humiliation. There is an end. Otherwise it's really tough. But there is an end," he said without detailing his strategy.
On rising tension between Israel and Palestine, Trump said that he has set a more positive tone with Jerusalem than his Democratic predecessor Barack Obama.
"I want to see peace with Israel and the Palestinians. There is no reason there's not peace between Israel and the Palestinians - none whatsoever," he said.
