U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken praised the "strong partnership between the United States and Saudi Arabia" during a meeting with his Saudi counterpart, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, on Thursday in Washington. Blinken stated that "the United States is committed to defending the Kingdom and we have a lot of work we are doing together on many important issues, from climate to energy to Yemen and Iran, as well as the progress we wish to see in Saudi Arabia regarding rights." He added that "the partnership with Saudi Arabia is important and vital to facing the significant challenges we encounter."
The Saudi Foreign Minister affirmed that U.S.-Saudi relations have provided great value to both countries, the region, and the world. He said, "We will talk about regional security and how we can work on that, as well as climate change, energy, and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic."
This meeting follows another meeting last week between U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Prince Mohammed bin Salman, where they discussed the war in Yemen, a meeting that was sharply criticized by human rights activists after a Saudi appeals court upheld a 20-year prison sentence for an activist. The United States expressed "disappointment" on Wednesday after a Saudi appeals court upheld a 20-year prison sentence against a Red Crescent employee for tweets criticizing the Saudi leadership posted on a fake Twitter account.
