Watch Webinar – MBS Visits Washington: Implications for U.S. and Middle East
Click here to read a transcript.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s ongoing U.S. visit is already making headlines. President Donald Trump announced his intention to make Saudi Arabia among the first non-NATO countries to receive U.S. F-35 combat aircraft, while bin Salman pledged nearly $1 trillion in Saudi investment in the U.S. economy.
Yet the big prize, a Saudi Arabia-Israel normalization agreement, remains elusive. While bin Salman stated that “we want to be part of the Abraham Accords,” the Saudi asking price is reportedly concrete progress toward Palestinian statehood. Nevertheless, President Trump struck an optimistic note, stating that he received a “positive response” when discussing normalization with bin Salman.
To discuss this visit and its significance for the United States and the Middle East, JINSA hosted a webinar featuring JINSA’s Randi & Charles Wax Senior Fellow John Hannah and JINSA’s Fellow for American Strategy Jonathan Ruhe.
JINSA’s Vice President for Policy Blaise Misztal moderated the conversation.
John Hannah John Hannah is the Randi & Charles Wax Senior Fellow at JINSA’s Gemunder Center for Defense and Strategy. John served in senior foreign policy positions for both Democratic and Republican administrations, including as former Vice President Dick Cheney’s National Security Advisor from 2005-2009 and as Vice President Cheney’s Deputy National Security Advisor for the Middle East from 2001-2005. |
Jonathan Ruhe Jonathan Ruhe is JINSA’s Fellow for American Strategy. Prior to joining JINSA, he worked at the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC), where he focused on Middle East and Former Soviet Union security issues. His commentary has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Foreign Policy, The Dispatch, and various international media outlets. |
Blaise Misztal Blaise Misztal is the Vice President for Policy at JINSA. His research interests include Iran and its nuclear program, U.S.-Turkey relations, countering extremism, and strategic competition. Misztal previously served as the Executive Director of the Task Force on extremism in Fragile States, a congressionally mandated project convened by the U.S. Institute of Peace, and Director of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s National Security Program. |