The US president is expected to announce a $100bn arms deal with the kingdom and give a speech on Islam.

US President Donald Trump has arrived in Saudi Arabia on the first leg of his first foreign trip since taking office, in a crucial test abroad as political scandals mount at home.

Trump will be meeting with King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and other Arab and Muslim leaders on Saturday and Sunday, before jetting off to Israel, the occupied Palestinian Territories, the Vactican, Belgium and Italy in a nine-day tour across the Middle East and Europe.

During the two-day visit to the kingdom, Trump is expected to sign a major weapons deal, give a speech on Islam and discuss the battle against "terrorism" with more than 50 leaders.

His visit is seen as highly symbolic, as he looks to repair the US relationship with its closest Arab ally.

Prior to the trip, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir, said the visit will "bolster the strategic partnership between the two countries".

He added, that "several agreements will be signed, including political agreements ... and big economic agreements".

Marwan Kabalan, an analyst at the Doha Institute's Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies, told Al Jazeera the US and Saudi Arabia will discuss a strategic plan aimed at countering "extremism" as an ideological battle.

READ MORE: What to expect from Trump's Middle East visit

"I think both sides have high expectations of this summit, as they are expected to discuss the most pressing issues for both of them like the conflict in Yemen, the war in Syria and the war on ISIL," Kabalan said, referring to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant armed group, also known as ISIS.

"Trump is expected to address the entire Islamic world while trying to establish this sort of a strategic partnership with Saudi Arabia, particularly concerning groups like ISIL."

On Saturday, Trump is expected to announce an arms deal with Saudi Arabia worth more than $100bn, in what could be the biggest such agreement in history.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, US officials familiar with the package told The Associated Press news agency that the deal would include Abrams tanks, combat ships, missile defence systems, radar and communications and cyber security technology.

Much of the package builds on commitments made before Trump took office, although some elements are new, including weapons designed to help Saudi Arabia in an air campaign it has led in war-torn Yemen, officials said.

The Trump administration separately informed Congress on Friday that it will sell some $500m in precision-guided munitions to Saudi Arabia. These include laser-guided Paveway II bombs and JDAM kits for converting unguided bombs into "smart bombs".

Also on the agenda in Riyadh is a summit of more than 50 Arab and Muslim leaders, including those from the six nations that form the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), to discuss the fight against "extremism".

Announcing the meeting, the Saudi foreign ministry said the "historic summit" should be the start to "building a partnership between the Arab and Muslim worlds and the United States at various levels".

Trump is expected to give a speech on Islam, calling for unity in the fight against "radicalism" and characterising the effort as a "battle between good and evil", the AP reported, citing a draft of his speech.

The US president will avoid tough anti-Muslim rhetoric from his presidential campaign, as well as mentions of democracy and human rights, according to the draft of the speech, which remains subject to revision, AP said.

According to Al Jazeera political editor James Bays, the meeting will also include talks on Trump's promise to restart peace talks between the Palestinians and Israelis.

"Everyone agrees that a fresh approach could be helpful in solving this long-running conflict and President Trump certainly brings that - but Arab leaders will want to hear more than optimism, they'll want to know the US president's plan to move forward," Bays said.

READ MORE: Five things to know about Donald Trump's first foreign trip

After the visit in Saudi Arabia, Trump will head to Israel and the occupied Palestinian Territories where he will meet his "friend" Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem.

There are no plans for Trump to bring the two leaders together, a senior US official told the Reuters news agency, saying the administration does not believe it is the "right time just yet".

Trump will then fly to the Vatican to meet Pope Francis, who has said he will give the US president an open-minded hearing, despite differences in belief on everything from climate change to policies towards refugees.

Trump will later meet members of NATO in Brussels and attend a G7 summit in Italy. </s> Baku. 22 May. REPORT.AZ/ US president Donald Trump broke the tradition of visits, making his first foreign trip to Saudi Arabia. The US presidents usually make their first visits in the office to Canada or Mexico.

Trump’s first visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia can be regarded as an indicator of this country’s importance for US. Notably, the US president visited Saudi Arabia on May 20-21. On May 22-23 he starts visit to Israel to meet with the head of Jewish state Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.

Trump will travel to Vatican to meet Pope Francis on May 24, then join NATO summit in Brussel on May 25. On May 26, he will visit Italy to participate at G7 summit in Sicilia.

Without any doubt, fighting terrorism, situation in Syria and future of this country, raising role of coalition in fighting ISIS and other interesting for international community topics will be discussed in all of his meetings. One of main topics for discussion during Trump’s visits to Saudi Arabia and Israel was deadlocked Palestine-Israel conflict.

Saudi Arabia somehow concerned with all issues discussed during the first official tour of US leader. From this point of view, his visit to the Kingdom cannot be regarded as a random one.

Making first official trips to Canada and Mexico cannot be regarded as actual in terms of importance in the context of current situation in the international arena. If Trump traveled to those countries, it would be regarded as an ordinary official visit made for the sake of traditional protocol.

Saudi Arabia and US also signed $110 billion arms deal during the trip. The Kingdom will spend $6 billion of the above sum to purchase 150 Black Hawk helicopters from US. Moreover, the agreement also envisages purchase of tanks, artillery, Patriot and THAAD anti-missile complexes.

At the same time, the sides also signed mutual investment agreement worth $250 billion.

Notably, former US president Barack Obama earlier froze the transfer of high-precision weapons to Riyadh, being cautious that they may be used against peaceful civilians of Yemen. But the new agreement lifts these kind of limitations.

One point hinted by US officials travelled to the Kingdom helps to reveal the meaning underpinning the visit. D.Trump called Muslim countries to take over part of burden of fighting extremism and terrorism: “The Middle East cannot wait for American power to crush this enemy for them”.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told: “So strong economic relationships are the foundation for strong security relationships as well”.

The Kingdom is also reckoned as one of key partners of US for oil import. Last year the US imported oil worth $20.9 billion from Saudi Arabia, being second after China according to this indicator.

15 terrorists out of 19 involved in September 11, 2001 attack wereSaudi origin. Relations between the two countries had deteriorated on this issue.In 2013, Saudi Arabia was irritated due to the warm relations between the US and Iran.

The visit helped to eliminate the discontent arising from these two issues.

Arab Islamic American Summit held in Riyadh on May 21.

High-ranking officials from 18 countries including Azerbaijan and Turkey attended the conference.Iran was not invited to the summit.

During Arab-Islamic-American Summit D. Tramp called on all countries to keep Iran isolated.In the first place he stressed the importance of the fight against extremism.

According to US President, this fight is not between different religions but between good and evil and stressed the importance of joint efforts to vanquish evil.

Notably, the summit was held with the slogan “Together we prevail.”

The participating countries in this event organized for the first time discussed the role of the fight against violence, terrorism and extremism for ensuring global security, stability and deepening cooperation in this field.

As a result of Trump’s visit to the Middle East “Arab NATO” was expected to create.

Notably, creation of Islamic Military Alliance to Fight Terrorism (IMAFT) was announced in December 2015.

The coalition includes Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt, Pakistan, Jordan, Tunisia, Qatar, Libya, Mali, Morocco, Somalia, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Comoro Islands, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Yemen, Gabon, Maldives, Guinea, Palestine, Chad, Togo, Djibouti, Senegal, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Benin, Lebanon and Kuwait.

Turkey is ready to give military training forces will fight against terrorism, the fight against terrorism and support Malaysian authorities, but it would not participate in military operations.Saudi Arabia was the initiator of the establishment of the Union.

Notably, international coalition against ISIS includes 65 states. At the same time this union states are members of the coalition.

However, during a visit, D. Trump attended digital center of the fight against terrorism. Thus, “Arab NATO” has not been established but the center has been opened.

Thus, Trump’s visit to the kingdom clarified a few points.

The new administration of the White House chose Saudi Arabia as the center of power in the Middle East and kingdom remains a key strategic ally of the US in the region since 1940s.

The format of the visit and the meetings can be concluded that the official Washington continues attempts to find "Golden mean" for 70 years.

It is clear to those who are dealing with the matter, that the events in the Middle East has nothing to do with Islam. There are two clean lines on this issue - one of the groups formed under the name of Islam, the other belligerent countries against them. The first party in this war divided because of its claim and stubbornness. As a result the likelihood of the destruction or disintegration of Iraq and Syria, increasing.

In his speech at the summit, US President called on Muslim countries to jointly fight against such groups.

Tramp’s speech also made it clear that, US strategy in the region against Iran for 38 not expected to change further.

In other words, new pressures and sanctions can be imposed against Tehran.

New strain in US-Iranian relations, no doubt, will affect South Caucasus especially Azerbaijan. It increases the likelihood of new problems in choice between Moscow and Washington.

Such development of events could lead to further delay in the liberation of Azerbaijan's occupied Nagorno-Karabakh.

Notably, the holy cities of world Muslims - Mecca and Medina are in Saudi Arabia. Every year, millions of people are visiting these cities. Unfortunately, this visit together does not appear in important issues of Muslim countries.

The US president's visit and speech proved the necessity of establishment of this association. </s> Through all of this, President Trump has remained steadfast in his support, while the U.S. military continues to provide aerial refueling for Saudi air strikes as well as the bombs used to kill so many of those civilians. But why? In a word: Saudi Arabian and UAE money in prodigious amounts flowing into Trump’s world — to U.S. arms makers and to dozens of lobbyists, public-relations firms, and influential think tanks in Washington.

Saudi Arabia’s influence over Donald Trump hit an initial peak in his first presidential visit abroad, which began in Riyadh in May 2017. The Saudi royals, who had clearly grasped the nature of The Donald, offered him the one thing he seems to love most: flattery, flattery, and more flattery. The kingdom rolled out the red carpet big time. The fanfare included posting banners with photos of President Trump and Saudi King Salman along the roadside from the airport to Riyadh, projecting a five-story-high image of Trump onto the side of the hotel where he would stay, and hosting a male-invitees-only concert by country singer Toby Keith.

According to the Washington Post, “The Saudis hosted the Trumps and the Kushners at the family’s royal palace, ferried them around in golf carts, and celebrated Trump with a multimillion-dollar gala in his honor, complete with a throne-like seat for the president.” In addition, they presented him with the Abdul-Aziz al-Saud medal, a trinket named for Saudi Arabia’s first king, considered the highest honor the kingdom can bestow on a foreign leader.

The Saudis then gave Trump something he undoubtedly valued even more than all the fawning — a chance to pose as the world’s greatest deal maker. For the trip, Trump brought along a striking collection of CEOs from major American companies, including Marillyn Hewson of Lockheed Martin, Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase, and Stephen Schwarzman of the Blackstone Group. Big numbers on the potential value of future U.S.-Saudi business deals were tossed around, including $110 billion in arms sales and hundreds of billions more in investments in energy, petrochemicals, and infrastructure, involving projects in both countries.

The new president was anything but shy in claiming credit for such potential mega-deals. At a press conference, he crowed about “tremendous investments in the United States… and jobs, jobs, jobs.” On his return to the U.S., he promptly bragged at a cabinet meeting that his deal-making would “bring many thousands of jobs to our country… In fact, will bring millions of jobs ultimately.” Not surprisingly, no analysis was offered to back up such claims, but it’s already clear that some of these deals may never come to fruition and many of those that do are more likely to create jobs in Saudi Arabia than in the United States.

Still, President Trump’s love affair with that country’s royals only intensified, leading to a triumphant U.S. visit last month by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the power behind the throne in that nation. He is also the architect of its brutal Yemeni war, where, in addition to those thousands of civilians killed thanks to indiscriminate air strikes, millions have been put at risk of famine due to a Saudi-led blockade of the country. But neither of these activities that, Democratic Congressman Ted Lieu has noted, “look like war crimes” nor Saudi Arabia’s abysmal internal human rights record drew a discouraging word from Trump or anyone in his cabinet. First things first. There were business deals to be touted — and so they were.

Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to the White House took place on the very day that the Senate was considering a bill to end U.S. support for Saudi Arabia’s Yemeni bombing campaign. While senators debated the constitutional authority of Congress to declare war and the human-rights impact of U.S. support for the Saudi war effort, Trump was boasting yet again about all those jobs that arms sales to Saudi Arabia would create, adding — in a sign of the total success of the Saudi charm offensive — that the relationship between the two countries “is now probably as good as it’s really ever been” and “will probably only get better.”

The centerpiece of Trump’s meeting was a show-and-tell performance focused on how Saudi arms sales would boost American jobs. As he sang the praises of those Saudi purchases, he brandished a map of the United States with the legend “KSA [Kingdom of Saudi Arabia] Deals Pending” above a red oval that said “40,000 U.S. jobs.” Prominent among them were jobs in the swing states that put Trump over the top in the 2016 elections: Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and Florida. Score another point for Saudi influence in the form of Trump’s firm belief that his relationship with that regime will bolster his future political prospects.

So the public courtship of Trump by the Saudi royals is already paying large dividends, but public flattery and massive arms deals are just the better-known part of the picture. The president has been heavily courted privately as well, both through personal connections and through an expansive lobbying operation, which it’s important to map out, even if there’s no administration show-and-tell on the subject.

As a start — as has been widely publicized — Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and officially anointed point man on Middle Eastern peace (an outcome he is uniquely ill-equipped to deliver), has struck up a beautiful friendship with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Their relationship was solidified at a March 2017 lunch at the White House, followed by numerous phone calls and several Kushner visits to Saudi Arabia, including one shortly before the prince cracked down on his domestic rivals. Though that crackdown was publicly justified as an anti-corruption move, it conveniently targeted anyone who could conceivably have stood in the way of bin Salman’s consolidation of power. According to Michael Wolff in Fire and Fury, after bin Salman’s power play, Trump joyfully toldKushner, “We’ve put our man on top!” — an indication that Kushner had offered a Trump stamp of approval to the prince’s political maneuver during his trip to Riyadh.

The friendship has clearly paid off handsomely for the Saudis. Kushner was reportedly the main advocate for having Trump make his first foreign visit to that country — over the objections of Secretary of Defense James Mattis, who felt it would send the wrong signal to allies about Trump’s attitudes towards democracy and autocracy (as indeed it did). Kushner also strongly urged Trump to back a Saudi-UAE blockade and propaganda campaign against the Gulf state of Qatar, which Trump forcefully did with a tweet: “So good to see the Saudi Arabia visit with the King and 50 countries already paying off. They said they would take a hard line on funding extremism and all reference was pointing to Qatar. Perhaps this will be the beginning of the end to horror of terrorism!”

Trump later changed his mind on this issue — after learning that Qatar hosts the largest U.S. military air base in the Middle East and after Qatar launched a PR and lobbying offensive of its own. That small, ultra-wealthy state hired nine lobbying and public relations firms, including former Attorney General John Ashcroft’s, in the two months after the Saudi-UAE blockade began, according to filings under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Most notably, the Qataris agreed to spend $12 billion on U.S. combat aircraft just weeks after Trump’s tweet.

Wherever Trump ultimately ends up on the campaign against Qatar (driven in part by a Saudi belief that its emir hasn’t sufficiently toed a tough enough line on Iran), Kushner’s role in the affair gives new spin to the old phrase “The personal is the political.” According to a source who spoke to veteran reporter Dexter Filkins, Kushner’s antipathy toward Qatar may have been driven in part by anger over its unwillingness to bail his father out of a bad Manhattan real estate investment with a massive loan.

Another snapshot of the Saudi-UAE urge to get up close and personal with The Donald lies in the strange case of George Nader, a political operative and senior advisor to the UAE, and Elliott Broidy, who reportedly can get face time with President Trump as needed. Nader evidently successfully persuaded Broidy to privately press Trump to take positions ever more in line with Saudi and UAE interests on Qatar and in their urge to see Secretary of State Rex Tillerson head for the exit. Whether or not Broidy’s appeals were instrumental in Trump’s decisions, he can’t be faulted for lack of effort. His exploits underscore how far both countries are willing to go in their efforts to bend U.S. foreign policy to their needs and interests.

In his campaign to win over Broidy, Nader gave him a cool $2.7 million to fund an anti-Qatar conference sponsored by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a sum that was also followed by more than $600,000 in donations for Republican candidates.

The keynote speaker at that conference was House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce, who then crafted a sanctions bill against Qatar and — miracle of miracles — shortly thereafter received a campaign contribution from Broidy. Wherever those funds came from, it strains credulity to believe that this was all coincidental. To sweeten the deal, Nader also dangled the prospect of major contracts for Broidy’s private security firm, Circinus. One deal with the UAE, for $200 million, has already been sealed, while a Saudi one is in the works. At this point, who knows whether any of this was illegal, but in the world of Washington influence peddling, what’s legal is often as scandalous as what’s not.

If such deep connections between Saudi Arabia and the Trump administration sometimes seem to surface out of nowhere, they all too often stem from an extraordinarily influential, if largely unpublicized, Saudi lobbying and public relations campaign.

Following the November election, the Saudis wasted no time in adding more firepower to their already robust influence operation in this country. In the less than three months before Trump was sworn in as president in January 2017, the Saudis inked contracts with three new firms: a Republican-oriented one, the McKeon Group (whose namesake, Howard “Buck” McKeon, is the recently retired chairman of the House Armed Services Committee); the CGCN Group, a firm well connected to conservative Republicans whose clientele also includes Boeing, which sells bombs to Saudi Arabia; and an outfit associated with the Democrats, the Podesta Group, which later dissolved after revelations about its work with Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign manager, and Russian banks under sanction.

Before Trump even made it to Riyadh that May, according to an analysis of Foreign Agents Registration Act records, the Saudis signed contracts with six more public relations firms and then added two more immediately after severing diplomatic ties with Qatar in early June. All told, in just the first year of the Trump administration, the Saudis spent more than a million dollars monthly on more than two dozen registered lobbying and public relations outfits. The UAE was not far behind, boasting 18 registered lobbying and public relations firms in 2017, including more than $10 million dollars that year alone that went to just one of them, the Camstoll Group.

All this lobbying firepower gave those two countries an unparalleled ability to steer U.S. foreign policy on the Middle East. Among other avenues of influence, their campaign included a steady stream of propaganda flowing to policymakers about the war in Yemen.

Large foreign lobbies of this sort also enjoy an even more direct path to influence through campaign contributions. While it’s illegal for foreign nationals to make such contributions in U.S. elections, there’s an easy workaround for that — just hire lobbyists to do it for you. Such firms and figures have, in the past, admitted to serving as middlemen in this fashion and are known to have sometimes given handsomely. For example, a study by Maplight and the International Business Times found that registered lobbyists working at just four firms hired by the Saudis gave more than half a million dollars to federal candidates in the 2016 elections.

Another important avenue of influence for the Saudis and Emiratis: their financial contributions to Washington’s think tanks. The full extent of their reach in this area is hard to grasp because think tanks and other non-profits aren’t required to disclose their donors and many choose not to do so. However, an eye-opening New York Times exposé in 2014 revealed an expansive list of think tanks that received money from the Saudis or Emiratis, including the Atlantic Council, the Brookings Institution, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and the Middle East Institute. In the age of Trump, it’s a reasonable bet that it has only gotten worse.

There is more at stake in Washington’s present web of ties to those two lands than just business. The uncritical embrace of such reckless, extreme, and undemocratic regimes by President Trump and many members of Congress has far-reaching implications for the future of American foreign policy in the Middle East. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has asserted that Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei “makes Hitler look good” and has suggested military action against Iran on a number of occasions. Add to this the prince’s successful efforts to keep the Trump administration on board in supporting his war in Yemen, plus Riyadh’s political interference in Qatar and Lebanon, and there is a real danger that Trump’s uncritical embrace of the Saudi regime could spark a regional war. The indiscriminate killing of Yemenis by the Saudi coalition, with the help of U.S. weapons, has already contributed to the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, while reportedly making the al-Qaeda franchise in Yemen “stronger than ever.”

There is much concern in official Washington about Trump’s seemingly cavalier attitude towards longstanding U.S. alliances, but in the case of Saudi Arabia, a major change of course would undoubtedly be advisable. The least we can do is help make sure that the people of Yemen don’t fear for their lives at their own weddings. </s> Mr. Trump and his wife, Melania, had on Friday embarked on their first foreign travel since he took office in January.

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Also, Like us on facebook </s> US President Donald Trump has arrived in Saudi Arabia on the first leg of his first foreign trip since taking office, in a crucial test abroad as political scandals mount at home.

In a red-carpet airport welcome, Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud greeted Trump, his wife Melania and his entourage shortly after they landed in the capital, Riyadh, around 06:50 GMT on Saturday.

Trump will hold a series of meetings with the king and other Arab and Muslim leaders on Saturday and Sunday, before jetting off to Israel, the occupied Palestinian territories, the Vatican, Belgium and Italy in a nine-day tour across the Middle East and Europe.

During the two-day visit to the kingdom, Trump is expected to sign a major weapons deal, give a speech on Islam and discuss the battle against "terrorism" with more than 50 leaders.

It is the first time a US president has chosen Saudi Arabia as the first stop on a maiden trip.

Trump's visit is seen as highly symbolic, as he looks to repair Washington's ties with its closest Arab ally.

During the final years of Barack Obama's US presidency, "relations had undergone a period of difference of opinion", according to Saudi officials. These differences were largely centred around the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and the Obama administration's cautions to the kingdom about the civilian toll of the war in Yemen.

READ MORE: What to expect from Trump's Middle East visit

Al Jazeera's Washington editor James Bays, reporting from Riyadh, said the Saudis were very "proud and excited" that the US president chose the Gulf country as his first stop.

"They want a reset of the relationship with the US. They were not happy with Obama, and they were not happy with the US policy in Yemen and in Syria," Bays said.

Ahmed Alibrahim, a Saudi political analyst, told Al Jazeera that the Saudis see this as a "great day" for relations with the US.

"We think President Trump's cabinet does understand the Saudi challenges and does understand the challenges the GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council] faces."

He added that the kingdom would like to see more "decisive statements, actions and sanctions on the Iranian regime".

Before the trip, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said the visit will "bolster the strategic partnership between the two countries".

He added that "several agreements will be signed, including political agreements ... and big economic agreements".

Marwan Kabalan, an analyst at the Doha Institute's Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies, told Al Jazeera the US and Saudi Arabia will discuss a strategic plan aimed at countering "extremism" as an ideological battle.

"I think both sides have high expectations of this summit, as they are expected to discuss the most pressing issues for both of them like the conflict in Yemen, the war in Syria and the war on ISIL," Kabalan said, referring to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant armed group, also known as ISIS.

"Trump is expected to address the entire Islamic world while trying to establish this sort of a strategic partnership with Saudi Arabia, particularly concerning groups like ISIL."

Arms deal

On Saturday, Trump is expected to announce an arms deal with Saudi Arabia worth more than $100bn, in what could be the biggest such agreement in history.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, US officials familiar with the package told the Associated Press news agency that the deal would include Abrams tanks, combat ships, missile defence systems, radar and communications and cybersecurity technology.

Much of the package builds on commitments made before Trump took office, although some elements are new, including weapons designed to help Saudi Arabia in an air campaign it has led in war-torn Yemen, officials said.

The Trump administration separately informed Congress on Friday that it will sell some $500m in precision-guided munitions to Saudi Arabia. These include laser-guided Paveway II bombs and JDAM kits for converting unguided bombs into "smart bombs".

'Historic summit'

Also on the agenda in Riyadh is a summit of more than 50 Arab and Muslim leaders, including those from the six nations that form the Gulf Cooperation Council, to discuss the fight against "extremism".

Announcing the meeting, the Saudi foreign ministry said the "historic summit" should be the start to "building a partnership between the Arab and Muslim worlds and the United States at various levels".

INTERACTIVE: A timeline of US-Saudi relations

Trump is expected to give a speech on Islam, calling for unity in the fight against "radicalism" and characterising the effort as a "battle between good and evil", the AP reported, citing a draft of his speech.

The US president will avoid tough anti-Muslim rhetoric from his presidential campaign, as well as mentions of democracy and human rights, according to the draft of the speech, which remains subject to revision, AP said.

According to Al Jazeera's Bays, the meeting will also include talks on Trump's promise to restart peace talks between the Palestinians and Israelis.

"Everyone agrees that a fresh approach could be helpful in solving this long-running conflict and President Trump certainly brings that - but Arab leaders will want to hear more than optimism, they'll want to know the US president's plan to move forward," Bays said.

READ MORE: Five things to know about Donald Trump's first foreign trip

After the visit in Saudi Arabia, Trump will head to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories where he will meet his "friend" Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem.

There are no plans for Trump to bring the two leaders together, a senior US official told the Reuters news agency, saying the administration does not believe it is the "right time just yet".

Trump will then fly to the Vatican to meet Pope Francis, who has said he will give the US president an open-minded hearing, despite differences in belief on everything from climate change to policies towards refugees.

Trump will later meet members of NATO in Brussels and attend a G7 summit in Italy.

OPINION: The US' never-ending days of reckoning

The foreign trip comes as Trump faces growing criticism at home.

As the US president jetted off to Saudi Arabia, reports by US media emerged that a senior adviser to Trump was a "person of interest" in a probe of possible collusion with Russia during last year's election campaign and that the US president had boasted to Russian officials after firing former FBI Director James Comey earlier this month.

On Thursday, Trump also denounced the announcement of special counsel to conduct an independent investigation into the alleged Russian meddling in the election and possible collusion with Trump's team. </s> President Donald Trump's first day in Saudi Arabia began with a lavish reception and ended with an ostentatious ceremony, but not before Trump and the Saudi king signed several agreements spanning diplomatic, governmental and commercial ventures, including an arms deal worth $110 billion.

In an effort cement political ties between the two allies, Trump and King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud also formalized the "Joint Strategic Vision Declaration." Details of the agreement stipulate the nations form a "consultative group" that will collaborate to "counter violent extremism, disrupt the financing of terrorism, and advance defense cooperation," the White House said in a statement Saturday. The U.S. president and the Saudi king, or their designees, will meet at least once a year to discuss new strategies, alternating between the two countries, the White House also said.

Building on a munitions deal begun during the Obama administration, the weapons package was officially finalized in a signing ceremony just hours after Air Force One touched down in Riyadh — where the president was greeted with a thundering display of flying jets, blasting cannons and trumpets.

The arms deal includes the sale of cybersecurity technology, tanks, artillery, ships, helicopters and radar missile-defense systems. The New York Times reported the latter was a last-minute addition to the shopping list, after Trump's son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner, intervened. During a meeting with Saudi officials at the White House earlier this month, Kushner called the head of Lockheed Martin, which develops the anti-ballistic missile system, to negotiate a cost reduction. Apparently, the savings were enough to sway the Saudis.

The White House is touting the deal as a blow against Islamic extremist groups including ISIS, claiming it will boost security in Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf against Iranian aggression and contribute to counterterrorism operations.

"That was a tremendous day," Trump said, according to a White House pool report, shortly after the signing but long before his day was actually over. He added that the agreements signed Saturday would generate "hundreds of billions of dollars of investments into the United States and jobs, jobs, jobs!"

U.S. delegation members travelling with Trump, including Kushner, were in high spirits leading up to the signing ceremony. Upon entering the room where the bilateral meeting between Trump and Salman was held, Kushner and national security adviser H.R. McMaster exchanged a high-five, according to a White House pool report.

But lawmakers critical of Saudi Arabia's role in the bloody civil war in Yemen — the kingdom's neighbor to the south — maintain the sale of arms that could be used in Saudi air strikes will add to the instability of the region.

"Saudi Arabia is an important friend and partner for the United States," Murphy wrote, adding "But they are still a deeply imperfect friend. $110 billion in weapons will exacerbate, not ameliorate, those imperfections."

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson addressed the issue at a press briefing following a meeting with his counterpart and long-time friend Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir, saying the continued arms negotiations were intended to help Saudi military actions in Yemen. Tillerson said the arms would help the Saudis be more "precise and targeted" in their military strikes, while still keeping pressure on the rebels in Yemen.

He was also pleased with the long-term economic implications of the arms deal and other agreements for American interests.

"Today truly is a historic moment in U.S.-Saudi relations," Tillerson said at a briefing Saturday. "They will bring hundreds of thousands of jobs," he also said.

Looking ahead to the Arab-Islamic-American summit Sunday, where Trump will be speaking, Al-Jubeir used some familiar rhetoric from the Trump playbook.

"If we can change the conversation in the U.S. and in the West from enmity toward the Islamic world to one of partnership we will have truly changed our world," he said.

"And we will have truly drowned the voices of extremism and we will have drained the swamp from which extremism and terrorism emanates."

In a separate transaction, American companies signed deals with Saudi leaders, a step the White House said will help with Saudi Arabia's economic reform plans. The total value of those deals is estimated to be between $300-$380 billion over 10 years.

"They're going to hire U.S. companies," Trump's economic adviser Gary Cohn told reporters, according to a White House pool report.

Though Cohn did not divulge details about the deals, he did disclose they were related to "a bunch of infrastructure related-things...A lot of money. Big dollars. Big dollars."

The U.S. is the largest oil investor in Saudi Arabia, al-Jubier said in his remarks at the briefing with Tillerson. ExxonMobil, the company formerly lead by Tillerson, is the largest single investor in the country, the foreign minister also said.

Throughout Riyadh, Trump and his delegation were greeted with great fanfare. The Ritz-Carlton Hotel, renowned for its glitzy gold interior and where the first family is staying, projected five-story images of Trump and Salman across the building's exterior prior to the president's arrival. And billboards along the motorcade route Saturday displayed pictures of the two leaders with one sentence, "Together we prevail," according to a White House pool report.

Trump is set to deliver a speech Sunday in Riyadh about Islam to leaders from dozens of Arab and Muslim-majority nations. </s> File photo: U.S. President Donald Trump and Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud take part in a signing ceremony at the Saudi Royal Court in Riyadh, May 20, 2017.

The Trump administration on Friday invoked a rarely used provision in federal law to bypass congressional review of arms sales to Saudi Arabia, citing threats the kingdom faces from Iran.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo notified Congress of the decision to use an emergency loophole in the Arms Export Control Act to move ahead with sales of $7 billion in precision guided munitions, other bombs and ammunition and aircraft maintenance support to Saudi Arabia, along with the United Arab Emirates and Jordan, without lawmakers' approval.

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In his notification, Pompeo said he had made the determination "that an emergency exists which requires the immediate sale" of the weapons "in order to deter further the malign influence of the government of Iran throughout the Middle East region." He said the transfers "must occur as quickly as possible in order to deter further Iranian adventurism in the Gulf and throughout the Middle East."

Pompeo said the sale would "deter Iranian aggression and build partner self-defence capacity," adding such a determination was intended to be a "one-time event." 

 

He tweeted that some of the sales were presented to Congress almost 18 months ago but lawmakers "failed to act."

Pompeo's move follows President Donald Trump's announcement that the U.S. plans to send 1,500 additional U.S. troops to the Middle East as part of a build-up in response to an unspecified threat from Iran.

It also comes as the administration has actively courted close ties with Saudi Arabia over congressional objections, notably following the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a U.S.-based columnist for The Washington Post, by Saudi agents in October.

Khashoggi's slaying, coupled with increasing concerns about civilian casualties resulting from a Saudi-led coalition's military operation against Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, prompted lawmakers to block about $2 billion in arms sales to the kingdom for more than a year. Last month, Trump vetoed legislation that would have ended U.S. military assistance for the Saudi-led war in Yemen.

Critics of the Saudi campaign quickly denounced Friday's step.

Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the administration did not cite a specific legal or practical reason for using the loophole other than Iran.

"I am disappointed, but not surprised, that the Trump administration has failed once again to prioritize our long term national security interests or stand up for human rights, and instead is granting favors to authoritarian countries like Saudi Arabia," Menendez said in a statement.

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who earlier this week warned against bypassing Congress, said the administration was only declaring an emergency because lawmakers would have blocked the transfers.

"President Trump is only using this loophole because he knows Congress would disapprove of this sale," Murphy said. "There is no new 'emergency' reason to sell bombs to the Saudis."

The law requires Congress to be notified of potential arms sales, giving the body the opportunity to block the sale. But the law also allows the president to waive that review process by declaring an emergency that requires the sale be made "in the national security interests of the United States."

Menendez and Murphy said they would challenge the decision but it was not immediately clear how they might do that.

"With this move, the president is destroying the productive and decades-long working relationship on arms sales between the Congress and the executive branch," Menendez said. "The possible consequences of this decision will ultimately threaten the ability of the U.S. defense industry to export arms in a manner that is both expeditious and responsible."

The chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, Republican Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho, said he was "reviewing and analyzing the legal justification for this action and the associated implications."

There is precedent for using the emergency exemption for arms sales to Saudi Arabia. President Ronald Reagan invoked it in the 1980s and both Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush used it for sales before the 1991 Gulf War and the 2003 Iraq war. </s> President Trump signed a $110 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia on Saturday, the initial day of his first foreign trip since taking office.

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"That was a tremendous day. Tremendous investments in the United States," Trump said. "Hundreds of billions of dollars of investments into the United States and jobs, jobs, jobs," he said.

The agreement commits Saudi Arabia to buying military equipment from the U.S. and to hiring American companies to build such equipment in Saudi Arabia, according to Gary Cohn, the president's chief economic adviser. The deal includes tanks and helicopters for border security, ships for coastal security, intelligence-gathering aircraft, a missile-defense radar system and cybersecurity tools, according to the State Department.

In a joint press appearance on Saturday with the Saudi foreign minister, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson praised the pact as a "historic moment in U.S.-Saudi relations." He also expressed an openness to talks with Iran.

“I’ve never shut off the phone to anyone that wants to talk or have a productive conversation,” he said. “At this point, I have no plans to call my counterpart in Iran, although in all likelihood we will talk at the right time.”

Tillerson said the pact sends a "very strong message to our common enemies" on trying to disrupt "violent extremist messaging" and "financing of terrorism." He also said the deal "lowers the cost to the American people of providing security in this region."

The Trump administration has been working to finalize the deal over the past several months. White House press secretary Sean Spicer called the deal "huge news for U.S. companies and American workers who will benefit" in a tweet on Saturday morning.

Trump's son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner personally called the president of Lockheed Martin, a major supplier of U.S. military equipment, in order to negotiate a lower price for the radar system, according to the New York Times.

"This package of defense equipment and services supports the long-term security of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf region in the face of malign Iranian influence and Iranian related threats. Additionally, it bolsters the Kingdom's ability to provide for its own security and continue contributing to counterterrorism operations across the region, reducing the burden on U.S. military forces," the State Department said in a statement.

A White House official added that in addition to demonstrating the U.S. commitment to Saudi Arabia "and our Gulf partners," it also expands "opportunities for American companies in the region, and supporting tens of thousands of new jobs in the U.S. defense industrial base."

Lockheed Martin President Marillyn Hewson praised the deal as one that will bolster the relationship between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia and "strengthen the cause of peace in the region."

“At Lockheed Martin, we are proud to be part of this historic announcement that will strengthen the relationship between the United States and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia," Hewson said in a statement. "We are especially proud of how our broad portfolio of advanced global security products and technologies will enhance national security in Saudi Arabia, strengthen the cause of peace in the region, and provide the foundation for job creation and economic prosperity in the U.S. and in the Kingdom."

The arms deal includes military sales to Saudi Arabia of $110 billion immediately and $350 billion total over the next decade, according to a White House official. The two countries also agreed to a joint vision statement, private-sector agreements and defense cooperation agreements.

Trump's first overseas trip since the election also includes planned stops at the Vatican and Israel.

The trip comes as controversy swirls in the U.S. around the investigation into potential collusion between Trump campaign associates and the Russian government, which could distract from the president's diplomatic mission.

In response to a question about reports that a current White House official is caught up in the investigation, Tillerson said "I do not have any information or knowledge regarding the person of interest." </s> Baku. 20 May. REPORT.AZ/ President of the United States Donald Trump has arrived on his first official visit to Saudi Arabia. Report informs citing the Al-Arabiyain Riyadh, Trump is scheduled to meet with King of Saudi Arabia Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud. Issues of strengthening cooperation in a number of areas, in particular, in the economic and military-technical spheres will be discussed. A number of bilateral agreements are expected to be signed.

After Saudi Arabia, Trump will visit Israel and the Vatican and then take part in the NATO summit in Brussels and the G-7 leaders' meeting in Sicily.
U.S. President Donald Trump arrives in Saudi Arabia, his first of three scheduled foreign trips. Trump signs an arms deal with King Salman worth more than US$100 billion.