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TRUMP-SAUDI- KING
Trump: Saudi king Salman wouldn’t last ‘two weeks’ without US support
DHAKA, Oct 3, 2018 (BSS) – Foreign media reports said US President Donald
Trump made an undiplomatic remark about its close ally Saudi Arabia on
Tuesday, saying he warned Saudi Arabia’s King Salman he would not last in
power “for two weeks” without the backing of the U.S. military.
“We protect Saudi Arabia. Would you say they’re rich? And I love the king,
King Salman. But I said ‘King – we’re protecting you – you might not be there
for two weeks without us – you have to pay for your military,'” the president
said at a rally in Mississippi.
Aljajeera reported that Trump did not say when he made those remarks to the
Saudi monarch, but they come amid increasing oil prices in the US.
Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly in New York last month,
Reuters reported that Trump said OPEC members were “as usual ripping off the
rest of the world.”
Saudi Arabia one of the world’s top oil exporter and the de facto leader of
the oil-producing bloc, OPEC, has been criticised by Trump for high oil
prices.
Trump called King Salman on Saturday to discuss efforts to maintain
supplies to ensure oil market stability and global economic growth, Reuters
said according to Saudi state news agency SPA.
Despite the harsh words, the Trump administration has had a close
relationship with Saudi Arabia, which it views as a bulwark against Iran’s
ambitions in the region.
Trump made Saudi Arabia his first stop on his maiden international trip as
president last year.
The US military was stationed in Saudi Arabia from the first Gulf War
against Iraq in 1990 to 2003, when then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld
announced pullout.
The presence of the US military in Saudi Arabia, home to the two holiest
sites in Islam – Mecca and Medina – was strongly objected to by most of the
world’s Muslim population, according to opinion polls published by Gallup in
2009.
Qatar hosts the largest US military base in the region.
BSS/RY/ARS/1905 hrs