WASHINGTON: The situation in Yemen and Syria and Iran’s ‘destabilising activities” will be on their agenda when Saudi King Salman bin Abd al Aziz and US President Barack Obama meet at the White House next week, US officials said on Thursday.

Their Sept 4 meeting comes amid Saudi concerns about the Iranian nuclear deal, which the United States and five other world powers signed last month.

The visit also precedes an important congressional vote on the nuclear deal. The US Congress, which returns to Washington next week after the summer recess, is scheduled to vote on a resolution that seeks to revoke the deal.

If President Obama succeeds in winning over Saudi support for the deal, it would help his administration refute the Republican claim that the agreement had isolated the US by alienating its Arab allies.

After a visit to Saudi Arabia in July, US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter said that King Salman had expressed support for the deal.

It is King Salman’s first visit since ascending the throne in January after the death of King Abdullah. President Obama met the king in Riyadh on Jan 27.

Published in Dawn, August 28th, 2015

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