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Riyadh, Washington Agree on Need for ‘Regional Security Structure’ | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz walks with US President Donald Trump during a reception ceremony in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, May 20, 2017. (photo credit:REUTERS)


Riyadh – Saudi Arabia and the United States agreed in a joint statement issued at the end of US President Donald Trump’s visit to the Kingdom on the need to form a “strong united regional security structure.”

A joint statement issued by Riyadh and Washington on Monday stressed the need to “contain Iran’s evil interference in regional countries” and review some of the articles of the nuclear deal signed between the West and Tehran in 2015.

Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz and US President Donald Trump announced that they stand together “to confront common enemies” through “new initiatives aimed at confronting violent extremist rhetoric, cutting the financing of terrorism and bolstering defense cooperation.”

They agreed on a new strategic partnership for the 21st century in the interest of both countries.

The statement said that during the Saudi-US summit held in Riyadh, “the two leaders reviewed the strong historical and strategic relations between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United States, which have grown and flourished over the past eight decades in the political, economic, cultural military, security, energy, and other fields. The leaders observed that the two countries have developed a productive partnership built upon trust, cooperation, and shared interests.”

The two countries announced their plan to form a Strategic Joint Consultative Group, hosted by King Salman and the US president, or their appropriate designees, to chart the course of this strategic partnership.

King Salman and Trump also “stressed that Iran’s interference poses a threat to the security of the region and the world, and that the nuclear agreement with Iran needs to be re-examined in some of its clauses.”

They said the Iranian ballistic missile program poses a threat to global security.

The statement also called for disarming terrorist organizations such as Lebanon’s “Hezbollah”, and integrating efforts between the US-led Global Coalition against ISIS with Saudi Arabia and the Saudi-led Islamic Military Alliance to Fight Terrorism.

The two sides stressed the need to work on resolving the crisis in Yemen and emphasized the importance of reaching a permanent solution to the conflict in Syria based on the Geneva declaration and Security Council resolution 2254.