- US President Trump received a lavish welcome in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, the first day of his visit to the Middle East. The two countries signed a $142bn defence sales agreement as part of a Saudi Arabian commitment to invest $600bn in the United States.
- Speaking at an investment forum in the capital, Riyadh, Trump announced that US sanctions on Syria will be removed, and said that it was time for the country to “move forward”.
- Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani said the removal of US sanctions marked a “new start” for the reconstruction of his country.
- Trump’s four-day visit to the Gulf region continues on Wednesday, with a trip to Qatar before he travels to the United Arab Emirates on Thursday.
Photos: Qatar prepares for Trump’s arrival later today
At forum, Trump criticised past US presidents for judging foreign leaders
During his speech at the Saudi-US Investment Forum on Tuesday, Trump took a swipe at past US presidents for using US policy to punish foreign leaders for their “sins”.
“In recent years, far too many American presidents have been afflicted with the notion that it’s our job to look into the souls of foreign leaders and use US policy to dispense justice for their sins,” Trump said.
“I believe it is God’s job to sit in judgement – my job to defend America and to promote the fundamental interests of stability, prosperity, and peace,” Trump added.
What we know about Trump’s schedule on day two of Middle East visit
The US President is expected the visit the US embassy in Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh at 9:30 am local time [06:30 GMT] this morning before attending a session of the Gulf Cooperation Council between 10:15 and 11:30 am [07:15 to 08:30 GMT].
At 12 noon [09:00 GMT], Trump will travel to the airport and depart Saudi Arabia for Qatar where he is expected to land at Doha’s Hamad International Airport at 1:30 pm [10:30 GMT] and where he is scheduled to be greeted by the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
The US President will then visit Amiri Diwan, the administrative offices of the emir, for an official welcoming ceremony and a state dinner will be held later this evening at Lusail Palace.
If you’re just joining us
Here are the latest developments:
- US President Donald Trump is starting the second day of his four-day visit to the Middle East, after arriving in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, where he signed a plethora of deals and agreements with the kingdom’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
- The White House described a $142bn defence sales agreement – part of a Saudi Arabian commitment to invest $600bn in the US – as the first of its kind.
- Trump surprised many by announcing that he was removing US sanctions on Syria in order, he said, to give the country “a chance at greatness”.
- Crowds of people gathered in the Syrian capital, Damascus, to celebrate after the news that US sanctions will be lifted.
- There are reports that Trump might briefly meet Syria’s new leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, on the sidelines of a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) meeting that the US president will attend later this morning in Riyadh.
- After the GCC meeting with leaders and representatives from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Oman, Trump will depart today for the Qatari capital, Doha, on the second leg of his three-country tour.
Musk shares thoughts on tech advances including humanoid robots
Among the highest-profile business leaders to appear at the Saudi-US Investment Forum on Tuesday was Elon Musk.
Musk, the CEO of Tesla and Trump’s cost-cutting tsar, shared his thoughts on the potential of emerging technologies, including humanoid robots.
“Once you have humanoid robots, the actual economic output potential is tremendous. It is really unlimited,” he told the audience. “Potentially, we could have an economy 10 times the size of the current global economy where no one wants for anything.”
Musk also announced that Riyadh had approved his satellite internet service, Starlink, and expressed his wish to see robo-taxis operate in the country.
“I think it would be very exciting to have autonomous vehicles here in the kingdom,” he said.
White House posts photo of Trump and MBS in golf cart
The White House has posted another picture of Trump and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) on social media, this time showing MBS driving Trump to dinner in a golf cart on Tuesday evening.
“A great day in Saudi Arabia!!!” the White House posted on X, quoting Trump.
Trump announces surprise end to Syria sanctions
President Trump dropped some unexpected news about Syria on the first day of his three-country tour of the Middle East.
At the end of a speech to business leaders and government officials in the Saudi Arabian capital, Riyadh, Trump said he would be “ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at greatness”.
Trump’s announcement reverses years of crippling sanctions on the war-torn country and marked a sudden departure from a visit focused primarily on US-Saudi investments.
US State Secretary Rubio to leave Middle East trip for Ukraine talks in Turkiye
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is accompanying Trump on his Middle East trip, will travel to Turkiye for a potential meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Talks are being held in Turkey later this week, probably on Thursday, and they could be some pretty good results,” Trump said in a speech in Riyadh, adding, “Marco is going to be going there.”
A State Department official said that Rubio will hold talks on Thursday in the Turkish resort city of Antalya at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers, and is expected to travel to Istanbul on Friday.
According to the White House, US special envoys Steve Witkoff and Keith Kellogg will accompany Rubio.
Putin has not yet said whether he will be at the talks.
Zelenskyy told reporters in Kyiv that he will be in Ankara on Thursday to conduct the negotiations and will meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He said the two would wait for Putin to arrive.
If Putin chooses Istanbul to hold the meeting, then both leaders will travel there from Ankara, he said.
Mobile McDonald’s in Riyadh draws eyeballs
Amid the deal-making and diplomatic discussions in Riyadh, the presence of a mobile McDonald’s outlet outside the media hub yesterday garnered a flurry of attention on social media.
Some commentators speculated that the fast-food truck had been rolled out in Trump’s honour.
Trump is well known for his love of McDonald’s, and requested the fast-food following his COVID-19 diagnosis and recovery in 2020, according to Jared Kushner, his son-in-law.
US tech firms among winners of Trump’s Saudi visit
US tech giants secured a plethora of business deals on Trump’s visit to Riyadh.
Nvidia announced that it would ship 18,000 cutting-edge Blackwell chips to Saudi Arabia to power a 500 megawatt data centre being developed in the kingdom in partnership with Saudi startup Humain.
Qualcomm also announced an agreement with Humain, which the San Diego-based firm said will involve “strategic collaboration for the development of next-generation AI data centers, infrastructure and cloud-to-edge services”.
Meanwhile, Google, DataVolt, Oracle, Salesforce, AMD and Uber committed to investing $80bn in “cutting-edge transformative technologies” in the US and Saudi Arabia, according to a White House fact sheet.
Trump set to meet Syrian leader, Gulf Cooperation Council before heading to Qatar
The US president is expected to meet Syria’s new leader and the heads of the Gulf states later today in Riyadh before travelling to Qatar.
According to reports, Trump is set to “say hello” to Syria’s new leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, in a brief meeting that comes a day after the US president said that he would lift sanctions that had been placed primarily on the Syrian regime of now toppled President Bashar al-Assad.
Later this morning, Trump will meet with leaders and representatives from the six Gulf Cooperation Council states: Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Oman.
He will then depart Saudi Arabia’s capital, Riyadh, for the Qatari capital, Doha.
On arrival in Doha, Trump is expected to visit the Amiri Diwan government offices and the Lusail Palace where a state dinner will be held.
On Thursday, he will fly to the UAE.
Trump to lift sanctions on Syria
US President Donald Trump has told business leaders and Saudi Arabian government officials that he will lift US sanctions on Syria.
Trump, who is not stopping in Israel on this trip, also told leaders in Riyadh that the situation in Gaza must change.
Some Republicans raise concerns over Trump’s plan to accept jet from Qatar
While Democrats have widely condemned Trump’s plans to accept a jet from Qatar for temporary use as Air Force One, several prominent Republicans have also raised concerns.
“… if and when it is no longer a hypothetical, I can assure you there will be plenty of scrutiny of whatever that arrangement might look like,” Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters on Tuesday.
“There’ll be plenty of scrutiny. There are lots and lots of issues around that, that I think will attract very serious questions.”
Senate Commerce Committee Chair Ted Cruz also expressed concerns about the proposal, saying he was “not a fan of Qatar”.
“I also think the plane poses significant espionage and surveillance problems, so we’ll see how this issue plays out, but I certainly have concerns,” Cruz said in an interview with CNBC.
Trump tries to push Saudi Arabia’s investment pledges up to $1tn
The US president is trying to get $1 trillion in investments to create jobs in the United States and also to see that free flow of investments between the United States and Saudi Arabia.
The crown prince said he was more likely to spend about $600bn on investing in US defence. But already, we’ve seen that number moving upwards.
We know already that there has been an investment in artificial intelligence, something that Saudi Arabia is already very big in. We’ve heard that there will be autonomous vehicles driving in Saudi Arabia as early as 2025 – this year, the CEO of Uber made that announcement.
We also know that there is a $2bn investment in infrastructure here in Saudi Arabia with US firms.
And we also know that there has been a purchase of US technology of more than $142bn when it comes to a defence partnership.
So that dollar figure is continuing to move up.
White House posts photo with Trump, Musk and Saudi’s MBS
The White House has posted a photo of Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman yesterday.
Musk is among several top business leaders who travelled to Riyadh to attend the Saudi-US Investment Forum.
Syrians gather in Damascus to celebrate Trump’s lifting of ‘crippling’ sanctions
Syrians gather in Damascus to celebrate Trump’s lifting of ‘crippling’ sanctions
Another historic night in a country that has seen many in the last five months.
As soon as the news came out, people started to gather here in Umayyad Square. The lifting of the sanctions is a relief. The sanctions were brutal and crippling towards people. They decimated the economy. No money could get in. No money could get out.
Now things are going to be different, and that’s what these people are saying –that they are going to have a chance to get an economy, to get jobs, and this is welcome.
There are still issues to take into consideration. This isn’t going to happen overnight, but try telling the people here that. Today, they are very happy.
The Syrian Foreign Ministry has issued the first official reaction, saying this is a chance to reset the relationship between America and Syria after years of war. They say this will be built on mutual self-respect and shared interests.
That idea of shared interests is a hope that American investments will come to Syria.
Trump defends plan to accept jet from Qatar
Trump has again defended his plans to accept Qatar’s offer of a Boeing 747 for temporary use instead of Air Force One.
Speaking in a Fox News interview, which was taped while he was en route to Saudi Arabia, Trump said Middle Eastern countries use much bigger and newer jets than the US for official business.
“You see Saudi Arabia, and you see UAE, and you see Qatar, and they have these brand new Boeing 747s mostly – and you see ours next to it. This is like a totally different plane. It’s much smaller. It’s much less impressive,” Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity.
“And you know, we’re the United States of America. I believe we should have the most impressive plane,” Trump said.
Trump said he viewed Qatar’s offer as a “beautiful gesture” and that it would be “stupid” to decline.
“My attitude is, why wouldn’t I accept the gift?”
Trump’s plan to accept the jet has been strongly criticised by Democrats, who have raised concerns about conflicts of interest and national security.
Photos: Celebrations in Damascus, Syria, after Trump says US sanctions to be lifted
Trump says ‘trying to open up’ China to US businesses
Trump has said his administration is aiming to “open up” China to US businesses following the sealing of an initial deal to lower tariffs between the sides.
“We’re trying to open up China because, as you know, many years ago, we opened up the USA. Now it’s time for China to open up,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity, which aired on Tuesday night.
“That would be like opening up a whole new world, and I think it would be even better for China,” Trump added.
Trump also said he has “always had a good relationship with [Chinese] President Xi [Jinping]”.
Key takeaways from Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia
Here are the key takeaways of Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia, which concludes later today when the US president will depart for Qatar.
- Trump announced that Saudi Arabia would invest $600bn in the US, including through the purchase of $142bn in weaponry, military equipment and training.
- Trump said the normalisation of ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel was his “fervent hope and wish, even my dream”, but acknowledged that the kingdom would take the step in its “own time”.
- Trump appeared to offer an olive branch to Iran, saying he would be “very happy” if he could make a deal with the country. “We’re going to make your region and the world a safer place. But if Iran’s leadership rejects this olive branch and continues to attack their neighbours, then we will have no choice but to inflict massive, maximum pressure,” he said.
Business and defence deals top agenda as Trump lands in Riyadh
Beginning the first official state visit of his second term as US president, Donald Trump touched down on Tuesday in the Saudi Arabian capital, Riyadh, on the first stop of a three-country tour, which also includes Qatar and the UAE.
Saudi Arabia is of key diplomatic importance to the US, as the political dynamics have shifted in the region since Trump’s first term.
A key focus of Trump’s visit is also to secure investment in the US. He was accompanied on this trip by an entourage that included Elon Musk and other tech billionaires.
A recap of Trump’s Middle East visit
Here’s what you need to know:
- US President Donald Trump continues his three-country tour of the Middle East on Wednesday after landing on Tuesday in Saudi Arabia, where he was greeted on arrival by the country’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS).
- Trump and MBS announced a range of agreements and strategic partnerships, including a US weapons deal worth $142bn, which was described as the largest ever of its kind by the White House.
- Speaking at a business forum in the Saudi Arabian capital, Riyadh, Trump announced that he would lift sanctions on Syria, which had been imposed primarily on the regime of toppled President Bashar al-Assad, saying he wanted to give the war-torn country “a chance at peace”.
- News of the US lifting sanctions was greeted with celebrations in Syria. The country’s Foreign Ministry hailed Trump’s announcement as a “turning point”, saying the move would allow Syria “to pursue stability, self-sufficiency, and meaningful national reconstruction”.
- Trump also addressed Iran in his speech, saying that Tehran should accept a deal that would limit its nuclear enrichment programme, while also warning that US talks on the matter “will not last forever”.
- Qatar’s offer of temporarily transferring a luxury aircraft to the US Department of Defense for Trump’s use as a replacement for his ageing Air Force One plane continued to cause controversy, with US Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer warning the gift could violate constitutional safeguards.
- Trump is due to fly to Qatar later on Wednesday after concluding his visit to Saudi Arabia. He will travel on to the UAE on Thursday, the last country on his Gulf state tour.
![US President Donald Trump greets Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during the Saudi-US investment forum at the King Abdul Aziz International Conference Center in Riyadh on May 13, 2025. [Fayez Nureldine/AFP]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/AFP__20250513__46JG7JX__v1__HighRes__SaudiUsDiplomacyEconomyForum_cropped-1747163777.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C513&quality=80)
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