US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Saudi Arabia on Monday, his first stop in a wider tour of the Middle East as Washington tries to advance negotiations on a normalisation deal between the Kingdom and Israel as well as make progress on talks for the governance of post-war Gaza.
The top US diplomat’s fifth trip to the region since Hamas’ October 7 attack comes at a perilous moment and amid retaliatory US strikes across Syria, Iraq and Yemen in response to a drone strike last week in Jordan that killed three American troops and wounded dozens.
Blinken is also set to visit Egypt, Qatar and Israel later this week and push to advance the Egyptian and Qatari mediated conversations with Hamas to achieve a hostage deal.
In Riyadh, Blinken was expected to meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, as well as his Saudi counterpart, foreign minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud.
Russia launches US astronaut and two cosmonauts on space station mission
Trump drops Hormuz fee plan in favour of investment deals
Several dead in fire at Brussels construction site
Jordan intercepts 4 Iranian missiles as US military ends five hours of attacks
Bangkok governor vows tighter regulations as pub fire death toll rises to 30
