U.S. State Department hails developed ties with Saudi Arabia

Russia lays final mechanism for Middle East peace conference in Moscow

Bush freezes U.S. troop draw-down in Iraq

Rice to attend 2 international events on Iraq

Saudi Arabia's unique role in the Arab and Islamic worlds, its possession of the world's largest reserves of oil, and its strategic location make its friendship important to the United States, according to a U.S. State Department information update on its web site.

Diplomatic relations were established in 1933; the U.S. embassy opened in Jeddah in 1944 and moved to Riyadh in 1984. The Jeddah embassy became a U.S. consulate. Meanwhile, a U.S. consulate opened in Dhahran in 1944.

The United States and Saudi Arabia share a common concern about regional security, oil exports and imports, and sustainable development. Close consultations between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia have developed on international, economic, and development issues such as the Middle East peace process and shared interests in the Gulf.

The continued availability of reliable sources of oil, particularly from Saudi Arabia, remains important to the prosperity of the United States as well as to Europe and Japan. Saudi Arabia is one of the leading sources of imported oil for the United States, providing more than one million barrels/day of oil to the U.S.

The U.S. is Saudi Arabia's largest trading partner, and Saudi Arabia is the largest U.S. export market in the Middle East.

In addition to economic ties, a longstanding security relationship continues to be important in U.S.-Saudi relations. A U.S. military training mission established at Dhahran in 1953 provides training and support in the use of weapons and other security-related services to the Saudi armed forces. The United States has sold Saudi Arabia military aircraft (F-15s, AWACS, and UH-60 Blackhawks), air defense weaponry (Patriot and Hawk missiles), armored vehicles (M1A2 Abrams tanks and M-2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles), and other equipment.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had a long-term role in military and civilian construction activities in the Kingdom. The U.S., as part of the Gulf Security Dialogue with individual Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members, has announced plans to sell advanced, primarily defensive, military equipment to GCC members, including Saudi Arabia, to support the efforts of these countries to increase their capacity for self-defense.

In August 2003, following the U.S.-led war in Iraq in March and April 2003, the United States withdrew its troops stationed in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia’s relations with the United States were strained after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in which 15 of the suicide bombers were Saudi citizens. In May 2003, a terrorist organization directly affiliated with al-Qaeda launched a violent campaign of terror in Saudi Arabia.

On May 12, suicide bombers killed 35 people, including nine Americans, in attacks at three housing compounds for Westerners in Riyadh.

On November 8, 2003 terrorists attacked another compound housing foreign workers from mainly Arab countries. At least 18 people, including 5 children died in this attack, and more than 100 were injured. On May 1, 2004 terrorists killed two Americans in the Yanbu oil facility in the western part of the country.

On May 29, 2004 terrorists killed one American and wounded several others in attacks on an official building and housing compound in al-Khobar in the Eastern Province. On June 6, terrorists shot and killed a BBC journalist.

On June 9 and June 12, 2004 terrorists killed Americans Robert Jacobs and Kenneth Scroggs. On June 18, 2004 terrorists kidnapped and beheaded American Paul Johnson. On December 6, 2004 terrorists attacked the U.S. Consulate in Jeddah, killing five consulate employees. Terrorists also targeted and killed other foreign nationalities during this time.

Saudi security services have waged an active counterterrorism campaign that has largely neutralized this terrorist organization, though sporadic instances of terrorism still occur. In May 2006, terrorists attempted to attack the important ARAMCO oil-processing facility near Abqaiq. In February 2007, four French nationals were killed in western Saudi Arabia in a suspected terrorist attack.

Saudi Arabia is an important partner in the campaign against terrorism, providing assistance in the military, diplomatic, and financial arenas. Counterterrorism cooperation between Saudi Arabia and the United States increased significantly after the May 12, 2003 bombings in Riyadh and continues today. In February 2005, the Saudi government sponsored the first ever Counter-Terrorism International Conference in Riyadh.

Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will visit Bahrain and Kuwait this month for discussions with Arab and other officials on Iraq and the Arab-Israeli peace process, the State Department said Wednesday.

According to spokesman Sean McCormack, Rice will travel to Bahrain on April 21 to meet the foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan, and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)—Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman.

“I would expect they’d talk a lot about Iraq. They will talk about issues of interest in the region. I’m sure that they’ll talk about the status of the Israeli-Palestinian discussion,” McCormack told reporters.

Rice also will attend a previously announced international conference in Kuwait on April 22 to promote Iraq’s security that involves Iran and other neighbors, McCormack said. As with earlier meetings of the conference held in Egypt and Turkey, the Kuwait meeting also will be attended by U.N. Security Council permanent members and other members of the Group of Eight industrialized nations.

The Egyptian foreign ministry said on Friday that a Middle East summit was likely to be held on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum meetings in the Egyptian Red Sea resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh on May 18-20.

Ambassador Hossam Zaky, the official spokesman for the Egyptian foreign ministry, said that ideas about holding a mini-summit in Sharm el-Sheikh were still under deliberations. Egyptian diplomatic sources said there were plans to have this mini-summit grouping the leaders of Egypt, the United States, Jordan and Palestine to discuss the Middle East peace process developments.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit will head to Washington Wednesday for a three-day visit that will include talks with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Zaky said.

"Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit will visit the U.S. between Apr. 16 and Apr. 19," he told the official Middle East News Agency (MENA).

Abul-Gheit's visit will include talks with Rice, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley, Zaky added.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of the Fatah movement authorized Egypt to hold talks with rival Palestinian faction Hamas on several issues, an aide to Abbas said.

The issues include reinforcing a ceasefire between armed Palestinian groups in the Hamas-ruled Gaza and Israel, according to Nabil Shaath, Abbas’ representative in Egypt.

Shaath added that opening the borders between Egypt and Gaza, brokering a prisoner exchange between Hamas and Israel and resuming talks between Hamas and Fatah were also among the topics.

According to Shaath, “Fatah monitors and supports these talks which were also discussed between Abbas and Egyptian, Jordanian and Saudi leaders.” Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip after routing the security forces of Abbas. Since then, Israel has imposed a tight closure on the coastal territory.

Israel also increased military attacks against the Gaza Strip in response to rocket fire from the area amid Egyptian mediation efforts aimed at securing calm.

Earlier, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat confirmed that Abbas would meet Israeli Premier Ehud Olmert.

Peace talks, the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and the Israeli closure of the Gaza Strip were the key issues that the two leaders were scheduled to discuss, Erekat said.

The settlement activities violate “Israel’s commitments under the first phase” of the US-backed road map peace plan which calls for the immediate suspension of settlement expansion, Erekat added.

Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) revived the negotiations at a US-hosted conference in November. The upcoming meeting will be the first since Abbas suspended his biweekly meetings with Olmert in early March in protest at an Israeli army operation in the Gaza Strip.

A Palestinian farmer was killed and another injured in an Israeli artillery strike in the north-eastern Gaza Strip, medical sources said.

Sources at the Gaza Strip’s Kamal Adwan Hospital said the farmer, Ra’fat Mansour, 35, was dead on arrival while a relative named only as Mohamed suffered moderate wounds.

The sources said the dead man was hit by shrapnel. According to the injured man, a tank shell landed in the farmer’s field east of Jebalya refugee camp.

Palestinian security sources said Israeli special forces entered the area east of Jebalya and exchanged fire with Palestinian militants. The Israeli firing of shells that resulted in the death of the farmer was connected with the operation, the sources said.

The areas alongside the security fence which separates between Gaza and Israel witness almost daily exchanges of fire between the Israeli army and the militants.

Hamas denied targeting Israeli children and women with rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.

“Hamas doesn’t mean to kill children with its rockets,” spokesman Ismail Radwan told reporters in response to a statement by the number two leader of the Al Qaeda network Ayman al-Zawahri who said Hamas’ random rockets kill women and children in violation of Islamic law.

Radwan added that “the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians may involve some killing of children,” accusing the Israeli army of “deliberately killing children, women and destroying houses and mosques.” Russia's foreign minister said Thursday he believes the first priority for a Middle East settlement is to stop the violence in the region. Sergei Lavrov also said the Mideast situation is complex.

"The situation is complicated and is characterized by a number of problems," he told journalists after talks with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

In addition, Lavrov said, the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is difficult, and Russia is promoting efforts to lift the blockade in the region.

The Russian minister said that despite all the difficulties, the negotiating process between the Palestinian Authority and Israel is ongoing. Russia is urging the sides to implement agreements reached at a U.S.-backed peace conference in Annapolis last November, and to try and prevent unilateral measures.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said Tuesday the Middle East Quartet, comprising Russia, the EU, the UN and the U.S., will gather on April 17 in Amman, the capital of Jordan. On April 17, PNA leader Mahmoud Abbas is expected in Moscow for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Lavrov.

Among other issues, a proposed Middle East peace conference due to be held in Moscow in the future will be on the agenda.

U.S. President George W. Bush hailed a "breakthrough" Sunday at his final summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, after they agreed to consider a joint anti-missile defense system with Europe.

"I happen to believe this is a significant breakthrough," Bush told journalists after the summit at Putin's residence near the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi.

A joint statement issued after the talks reiterated that Russia "does not agree" with the U.S. deployment of an anti-missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic.

However, the declaration noted that Moscow saw U.S. confidence-building measures as "important and useful" and that Russia shared the U.S.'s "interest in creating a system for responding" to potential missile threats. Crucially, the declaration held out the possibility of Moscow and Washington working together on the anti-missile question - one of the most divisive areas over the last year of increasingly tumultuous relations.

"Both sides expressed their interest in creating a system for responding to potential missile threats in which Russia and the United States and Europe will participate as equal partners," the declaration said.

This was the last summit between Bush, whose term ends at the start of next year, and Putin, who hands over to Dmitry Medvedev on May 7.

Putin's acknowledgment that Washington has taken steps to defusing the bitter row marked an important thaw in the long-running dispute.

Moscow has until now dismissed U.S. claims to be setting up the shield against emerging military powers such as Iran, saying that the system was instead aimed at Russia.

At a joint press conference, Putin said he felt "cautious optimism concerning a final accord" on the U.S. anti-missile plan. "It seems to me this is possible."

Bush said that "Russia appreciates confidence-building and transparency measures we have proposed, and have declared that they will be important in influencing Russian concerns."

Bush also met in Sochi with Medvedev, who was eased in as Putin's successor in an election this March that was carefully controlled by the authorities. He has never held elected office and has little foreign policy experience.

Bush said he looked forward to getting to know Medvedev "so we'll be able to work through common problems." The Russian president-elect said he wanted "to act so that our relations develop further without interruption."

U.S. President George W. Bush on Thursday ordered an indefinite halt to US troop withdrawals from Iraq come July, warning that the strife-torn country remains too fragile five years after Baghdad fell.

"Serious and complex challenges remain in Iraq, from the presence of Al-Qaeda to the destructive influence of Iran to hard compromises needed for further political progress," Bush said in a speech defending his strategy.

With his fellow Republicans worried about the vastly unpopular conflict's cost in November elections, Bush said he was also shortening troop deployments, and promised that "while this war is difficult, it is not endless."

Still, the president's remarks underlined that his successor in January 2009 will decide whether and how to end the war, which is now in its sixth year, after claiming the lives of more than 4,000 US troops and countless Iraqis.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that, while he expected more draw-downs if the situation improves, he did not think that US force levels could drop to 100,000 by year's end as he had once hoped.

In his speech, Bush explained that he was accepting advice from the top US commander in Iraq, Army General David Petraeus, and the US ambassador in Baghdad, Ryan Crocker, who testified to US lawmakers for two days this week.

"I've accepted these recommendations," he said, underlining the central one of pursuing a limited drawdown from 20 brigades of combat troops to 15 brigades as scheduled by the end of July, but freezing further withdrawals.

"Beyond that, General Petraeus says he'll need time to consolidate his forces and assess how this reduced American presence will affect conditions on the ground before making measured recommendations on further reductions," he said. "And I've told him he'll have all the time he needs," the president said, without setting a timeframe.

But Gates, choosing words that Petraeus had explicitly rejected in Senate testimony earlier this week, told the Senate Armed Services Committee there would be a "brief pause" for consolidation and evaluation after July.

"I do not anticipate this period of review to be an extended one, and I would emphasize that the hope, depending on conditions on the ground, is to reduce our presence further this fall," Gates said.

He said Petraeus should make a recommendation on further troop cuts at the end of a 45-day review period in mid-September. The general indicated this week that he might, or might not, do that, depending on the circumstances.

His testimony and that of Admiral William Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, reflect underlying tensions within the military and the administration over the pace and scope of the drawdown at a time when Afghanistan poses a growing challenge.

Facing warnings from top military commanders that the war is putting a heavy strain on US forces and their families, Bush also said he was cutting tours of duty for troops deployed after August 1, from 15 months to one year.

"We'll also ensure that our Army units will have at least a year home for every year in the field," he said.

Democrats, including White House hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, have stepped up calls to bring more US troops home, and said Bush's only strategy is to hand off the conflict to his successor.

"We cannot press Iraq's leaders to resolve their differences and spend their money if our plan is to stay in Iraq indefinitely," said Obama.

"As president, I will do what this president has failed to do: recognize reality and end the war responsibly," Clinton said.

Bush, who brushed off such criticisms as "simply wrong," also said he was launching an all-out diplomatic offensive to rally Arab support for Iraq and warned arch-foe Iran that it faced "a choice" on how to treat its neighbor.

Bush lumped Tehran and Al-Qaeda together as "two of the greatest threats to America in this new century" and left little doubt that he was threatening Iran with military action if it threatens US interests in Iraq.

"If Iran makes the right choice, America will encourage a peaceful relationship between Iran and Iraq. If Iran makes the wrong choice, America will act to protect our interests and our troops and our Iraqi partners," he said.

His speech came as two US air strikes in Baghdad's embattled Sadr City district killed six people as fighting flared for a fifth straight day between Shiite militiamen and security forces hunting mortar and rocket teams.

Separately, Petraeus called for a "very, very sensitive" approach in dealing with militias allied with radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, warning that overly harsh measures could lead them to abandon a unilateral ceasefire Sadr imposed in August.

On the diplomatic front, Bush said he was ordering Petraeus and Crocker to Saudi Arabia and sending top US diplomats to Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Egypt to convince them to reopen their embassies in Baghdad.

A U.S. Navy ship encountered a small Iranian high-speed boat in the central Persian Gulf and warned it away by firing a flare, the Pentagon said Friday. Two other similar Iranian boats in the area did not come as close.

The USS Typhoon tried unsuccessfully to establish radio contact with the Iranian boat after it came within an estimated 200 yards of the Typhoon on Thursday, outside Iranian territorial waters. A Navy official said the ship then fired the flare and continued on its way without incident. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said there were no signs any boat was armed.

Iranian English-language Press TV quoted an unnamed official with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard as denying "any new confrontation" in the Persian Gulf. "The Iranian boats approached the U.S. warship in the Persian Gulf for a routine check," the official was quoted as saying on Press TV.

Meanwhile, the Web site of Iran's Arabic-language Al-Alam TV cited an unnamed senior Iranian Navy official as saying that "no accident took place between the Iranian boats and the U.S. ship, but there was a recognition of the U.S. forces' presence in the Persian Gulf."

This passed in a "normal way ... and according to protocol, and then the boats left the scene with no accident whatsoever," the Iranian Navy official said.

This marked at least the second U.S. Navy encounter with an aggressive Iranian high-speed boat this year. In January, Iranian boats made what the Navy called provocative moves near a U.S. ship in the Strait of Hormuz.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday he doubts that radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose Mahdi Army is battling U.S. and Iraqi troops in Baghdad, would be subject to arrest by U.S. forces.

"I think those who are prepared to work within the political process in Iraq, and peacefully, are not enemies of the United States," Gates said.

When pressed about the prospect of arresting al-Sadr, he added, "I would be surprised along those lines — a move to arrest him. He is a significant political figure. We want him to work within the political process. He has a large following. It is important that he become a part of the process, if he is not already."

A senior aide to al-Sadr was assassinated Friday in the holy city of Najaf, officials said. Authorities immediately announced a citywide curfew and security forces were seen deploying on the streets. The killing threatened to raise tensions amid a violent standoff between al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia and the U.S.-backed Iraqi government.

Adm. Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, appearing alongside Gates at the news conference, said he regards al-Sadr as "somewhat of an enigma."

"So, I think Sadr clearly is a very important and key player in all this," Mullen added. "Exactly where he's headed and what impact he'll have long term, it's, I think, is out there still to be determined."

Gates reiterated that he hopes it will be possible to withdraw more U.S. forces this fall after a pause this summer.

"I certainly hope, continue to hope, that conditions will allow us to remove more troops by year's end," he said.

"That hope for return on success is shared by the president, General Petraeus, Admiral Mullen and the chiefs. But we're all realistic. The history of this conflict has demonstrated that we must always be prepared for the unpredictable and that we must be extremely cautious with our every step."

President Bush announced on Thursday that after the currently scheduled troop withdrawals are completed in July, he would give his top commander in Iraq 45 days to evaluate the effects of the drawdown. That would be followed by an indefinite period to reassess U.S. troop strength in Iraq and determine the timing of additional troop reductions.

Meanwhile, Rice said that the United States will consider both fresh incentives or sanctions to persuade Iran to rein in its nuclear program but major changes are unlikely now. "We will always continue to consider refreshing both tracks but this is not the time, I think, to expect major changes," Rice told reporters.

"We have just passed a (U.N.) Security Council resolution (imposing additional sanctions) and we will see how Iran responds," she added at a news conference with Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

Senior officials from the major powers dealing with Iran -- the United States, France, Germany, Britain, Russia and China -- are due to meet on April 16 in Shanghai to discuss what the next steps should be against Iran.

China and Russia are pushing for greater incentives to get Iran to give up sensitive nuclear work that the West believes is aimed at building a nuclear bomb and Tehran says is aimed at increasing its civilian power capacity.

The U.N. Security Council has passed three rounds of limited sanctions against Iran, which has claimed in recent days it is installing 6,000 centrifuges to enrich uranium, which if highly refined can be used to make nuclear weapons.

Rice said she could not verify "one way or another" what Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had said this week about apparent advances in Tehran's nuclear program.

But she said it would be better if the United Nations' atomic energy watchdog agency were granted more access to Iran's nuclear programs to verify what was happening.

Steinmeier said the major powers had maintained a "united front" in dealing with Iran, adding that European nations were considering complementary sanctions following the latest U.N. Security Council resolution.

In Tehran, Provisional Friday Prayer Leader of Tehran said here in his second sermon Iran paves a peaceful path in its legal nuclear activities that are approved by the Agency, and all the same, Tehran is ready for resuming nuclear negotiations.

Addressing thousands of Tehrani worshipers at central campus of Tehran University, Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani added, "Although the Agency (the International Atomic Energy Agency) has emphasized that Iran has not deviated (from peaceful path) in its (nuclear) activities, the oppressor powers have still not ended creating troubles for us."

He said, "I tell them they are making a mistake and that the only result of what they are doing is further polluting of the atmosphere of the region and the world."

The Chairman of the Leadership Experts Assembly referring to the close cooperation between Iran and the IAEA, addressed Iran's nuclear negotiators, saying, "Under such conditions that Iran is ready for sitting at the negotiation table although its activities, too, are completely legal and we have signed the entire related commitments and are abiding by them, I think the best thing to do for both sides is to negotiate."

Hashemi Rafsanjani expressed hope that the opponents of Iran's peaceful nuclear activities would end their hegemonic demands.

The Chairman of country's Expediency Council then focused on recent developments in Iraq, expressing deep sorrow over getting killed of dozens of innocent Iraqi civilians during the course of the past couple of weeks' military operations.

He stressed that the Islamic Republic of Iran's role in Iraq has been restricted to strengthening the foundations of stability and security there, adding, "Regarding Iraq, nothing is more important for Iran than unity among the entire Iraqi people and giving them a chance to decide their own fate resorting to democratic methods."

Hashemi Rafsanjani also stressed the need for evacuation of the occupier forces from Iraq as soon as possible.