Saudi foreign minister arrives in Washington for talks with Rubio, with U.S.-Iran war at the top of the agenda

Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister, Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, has arrived in Washington for an official visit, where he is set to meet U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Al Jazeera reports. According to the Saudi foreign ministry, the talks will focus on key regional and international developments and on ways to deepen cooperation between the two countries.

The visit comes at a critical moment for the Middle East: the United States and Iran are locked in a diplomatic deadlock after U.S. President Donald Trump rejected Iran’s proposal for a seven-day plan that would have reopened the Strait of Hormuz and ended the fighting. Riyadh, meanwhile, is feeling the conflict’s consequences firsthand — Iranian-backed Houthis have stepped up missile and drone attacks on Saudi cities and infrastructure, including areas near the capital, Riyadh.

Saudi Arabia is a key player in any peace effort: it is the country carrying the military weight of the war against the Houthis in Yemen and, at the same time, Washington’s main regional partner in talks with Tehran. A possible signal from the Washington meeting will be whether the U.S. administration offers Riyadh new security guarantees or pushes it toward a diplomatic settlement with Iran.

Meanwhile, political pressure is also mounting inside the United States: high fuel prices, driven by the war with Iran, have become a major theme ahead of November’s midterm elections, making every diplomatic move by Washington even more sensitive.