The visit came amid ongoing tensions between Tehran and Washington which escalated after top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani was killed in Baghdad in early January, in a move that was authorised by US President Donald Trump.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has reiterated Washington’s push to grapple with the alleged “Iran threats” as he recently sat down with Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh.
The State Department said in a statement that during the talks earlier this week, Pompeo “assured the Crown Prince that the United States stands with Saudi Arabia in the face of these threats, as reflected in our greater military presence in Saudi Arabia”.
The statement specifically referred to Pompeo’s visit to Prince Sultan Air Base near the Saudi capital, which “highlights the longstanding US-Saudi security relationship and reaffirms America’s determination to stand with Saudi Arabia in the face of Iranian malign behavior”.
Pompeo tweeted on Friday that “Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud and I discussed the ongoing threat posed by the Iranian regime”.
Speaking to reporters in Ethiopia ahead of his visit to Saudi Arabia, he stressed that the US “pressure campaign” against Iran is underway and that “it’s not just an economic pressure campaign, it’s diplomatic pressures, isolation through diplomacy, as well”.
The US Secretary of State visited Riyadh amid heightened tensions between Tehran and Washington, which further deteriorated on 3 January, when Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ elite Quds Force Commander Qasem Soleimani was assassinated at Baghdad international airport on the order of US President Donald Trump.
