Obama to meet Saudi crown prince, deputy Wednesday
President Barack Obama will meet with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the Oval Office on Wednesday, ahead of a summit with other Gulf Arab leaders, the White House said on Tuesday, Reuters reports.
Obama had planned to hold a separate meeting with Saudi King Salman, but the king instead decided to send his deputies to the summit in what was widely viewed as a snub to the United States over its engagement with Iran.
The summit with the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council begins Wednesday evening with dinner at the White House and continues on Thursday at the presidential retreat at Camp David in Maryland.
Obama invited the GCC nations - Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Oman - after six world powers reached a framework agreement with Iran that would give Tehran sanctions relief for reining in its nuclear program.