Category: Saudi Arabia

RIYADH—Saudi Arabia said Sunday that King Salman won’t attend a summit of Gulf leaders to be hosted this week by U.S. President Barack Obama at Camp David. Foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir said the king decided to skip the meeting to focus on the Yemen cease-fire and humanitarian aid effort, according to a statement by the state news agency. The king has delegated Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef to lead Saudi delegation which would include Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and other senior officials. Write to Ahmed Al Omran at [email protected]

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Photo President Obama speaking about the Iran nuclear agreement at the White House last month. Credit Gabriella Demczuk for The New York Times WASHINGTON — Saudi Arabia announced on Sunday that its new monarch, King Salman, would not be attending meetings at the White House with President Obama or a summit gathering at Camp David this week, in an apparent signal of its continued displeasure with the administration over United States relations with Iran , its rising regional adversary. As recently as Friday, the White House said that King Salman would be coming to “resume consultations on a wide range of regional and bilateral issues,” according to Eric Schultz, a White House spokesman. But on Sunday, the state-run Saudi Press Agency said that the king would instead send Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, the Saudi interior minister, and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the defense minister. The agency […]

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Photo Workers preparing an image of King Salman, Saudi Arabia’s new monarch of several months, to put up in a building in Riyadh. Credit Tomas Munita for The New York Times RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — For much of the past decade, change has come slowly to Saudi Arabia , if at all. The oil-rich kingdom was led by an ailing monarch who worked quietly behind the scenes to preserve the status quo, propping up friendly dictators around the Middle East and depending on a leadership of aging princes at home. But in the few months since the death of King Abdullah in January, the new king, Salman, has moved fast to reshape foreign and domestic policies. He has rattled alliances with the United States and regional powers that for decades have been the bedrock of stability for his kingdom, and he has also shaken up the Saudi royal family. […]

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Saudia Arabi’s Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi led a meeting with Aramco officials and South Korean refinery executives in Seoul last month and visited S-Oil Corp.’s Ulsan refinery, in which the Middle East producer holds about 63 percent. Photographer: SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg Saudi Arabia is spending generously now on Asian refiners to lock in its position as the region’s biggest supplier of oil for decades to come. The Saudi national oil company is part of a group that’s building a processing plant in China and it teamed with Asia’s biggest refiner on another in Fujian province. Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi traveled to Beijing last month, highlighting the importance of the world’s second-biggest crude consumer to his country’s future. He also visited a South Korean refinery in which his country has a majority interest. Pressure is rising on Saudi Arabia to hold on to market share in Asia as competitors including Iraq, […]

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CAIRO Saudi-led forces conducted several airstrikes on Thursday against the Yemeni province of Saada, a stronghold of the Iranian-allied Houthi movement, the state news agency SPA said on Friday. The strikes targeted two Houthi control centers in Bani Maaz, destroyed a mine factory in the old quarter of the city of Saada and a communications center in the Mothalath area, the agency said. Two Houthi command centers in the province were also destroyed. Residents of Saada said the strikes had damaged the tomb of the founder of the Houthi movement, Hussein al-Houthi. There was also heavy shelling in the west of the province, on the border area between Saudi Arabia and Yemen, and 13 villagers were killed in strikes on Hajja province, also near the border, locals said. The figures could not be independently verified. A Saudi-led coalition began strikes against the Houthis on March 26, aimed at pushing […]

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ENLARGE The pending deal between Iran and world powers on Tehran’s nuclear program and other security issues topped the agenda of a summit of Gulf leaders in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Tuesday, at which French President François Hollande was a guest of honor. To his left is King Salman of Saudi Arabia. Photo: European Pressphoto Agency RIYADH—The nuclear deal that the U.S. and other world powers hope to reach with Iran would put a 10-year curb on the Islamic republic’s nuclear program. For some of Iran’s regional rivals, that is also becoming a deadline for developing nuclear arms of their own. In Saudi Arabia, there are widespread public calls to match Iran’s nuclear quest. The two other Middle East heavyweights, Turkey and Egypt, could also feel compelled to follow suit, senior Western and Arab officials warn. Such an arms race would further destabilize what is already the world’s […]

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A flame from a Saudi Aramco oil installion is seen in the desert near the oil-rich area of Khouris, 160 kms east of Riyadh. Photographer: Marwan Naamani/AFP via Getty Images As the oil industry tightens its belt after the worst price slump in a generation, the state-owned giants of the Middle East are taking the opposite tack. Saudi Arabian Oil Co., Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. and Kuwait Petroleum Corp. are using a record number of drilling rigs and boosting production, a contrast to international companies from Exxon Mobil Corp. to Royal Dutch Shell Plc, which are shelving projects and slashing costs. “While oil companies around the world are cutting capital and downsizing their investment programs, Saudi Aramco continues to take a long-term view,” Chairman Khalid Al-Falih said during a March trip to China. It’s a strategy that may allow the three state-owned companies to boost their 20 percent […]

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RIYADH (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia’s financial position is very strong despite the plunge in oil prices since last year, and the kingdom is focusing spending on economuc development projects to stimulate the private sector, Finance Minister Ibrahim Alassaf said on Tuesday. In a speech to a major financial conference, Alassaf also said he was optimistic that the global economy was emerging from its slump, citing indicators from Europe and Japan. But he added that one couldn’t expect a return to growth levels of 10 years ago. Low oil prices are a challenge to oil exporting countries in general, including Saudi Arabia, but Riyadh is able to use its spending to avert the negative impact, Alassaf said. He said a new Council of Economic and Development Affairs, created by King Salman on taking the throne in January, would help to accelerate decision-making and support government efforts to improve the business […]

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ENLARGE This photo shows an army tank being transported, in the city of Najran, Saudi Arabia, near the border with Yemen on April 23. Mortars and long-range rockets struck the city on Tuesday. Photo: Associated Press Mortars and long-range rockets blasted cars and punched holes in buildings in the southern Saudi Arabian city of Najran on Tuesday, a Saudi official said, underscoring the threat posed to the nation’s territory by the instability across its southern border in Yemen. The attack was the first significant offensive against a Saudi city since a Saudi-led campaign of airstrikes began in March against Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militants . A Saudi military official told state television that the Houthis were responsible, while three Houthi officials said local Yemeni tribesmen launched the attack in coordination with the Houthis. It wasn’t immediately clear who was responsible. As the shelling intensified, Saudi authorities took emergency steps. They […]

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RIYADH (Reuters) – Changes in Saudi Arabia’s leadership have concentrated power in an inner circle of the Al Saud dynasty, removing constraints on the monarch and making the conservative kingdom’s strategic positions less predictable. The world’s top oil exporter has always prized stability, developing policies slowly and altering them rarely, partly because of the need to balance rivalries among ruling family members and their conflicting interests. That may now be changing. Since inheriting the throne from his brother in January, King Salman has embarked on a war in neighboring Yemen, restructured the oil sector and shaken up domestic governance, including the line of succession. Whether this is the beginning of a much more assertive foreign policy aimed at countering rival Iran, a new energy strategy or a more authoritarian security approach, as analysts have speculated, remains unclear. But what is increasingly apparent is that Riyadh’s new rulers enjoy more […]

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