Senior White House Advisor Jake Sullivan met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Wednesday to reinforce the Biden Administration’s efforts to limit the spread of the conflict in Gaza, Politico reports, with the administration hoping to ensure its efforts to normalize relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel stay on track.
Sullivan stopped in Saudi Arabia also sought to secure that nation’s assistance in stopping attacks from Houthi rebels, who are firing missiles at and attempting to hijack commercial vessels from Yemen and threatening with Iranian-supplied drones the allied military vessels guarding the shipping routes.
While he reported left Riyadh with promises of cooperation from the Saudi government, Sullivan did not receive the billion-dollar deposit from alleged murderer MbS as was customary with envoys from the previous administration: Jared Kushner famously got $2 billion for an investment fund he was establishing although the Saudi family trust board found him inexperienced in handling such funds, and Trump’s former Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin got a similar donation at half the level.