SAUDI ARABIA: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry praises Saudia Arabia on a visit to the country but despite a public show of friendship, big differences remained

Record ID: 189256

  • Title: SAUDI ARABIA: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry praises Saudia Arabia on a visit to the country but despite a public show of friendship, big differences remained
  • Date: 4th November 2013
  • Summary: RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA (NOVEMBER 04, 2013) (REUTERS ) SAUDI FOREIGN MINISTER PRINCE SAUD AL-FAISAL AND U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE JOHN KERRY ENTERING NEWS CONFERENCE WIDE OF NEWS CONFERENCE MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE, JOHN KERRY, SAYING: "Our relationship is strategic, it is enduring, it covers of wide range of bilateral and regional issues." REPORTER TYPING PHOTOGRAPHER (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE, JOHN KERRY, SAYING: "The relationship between the United states and Saudi Arabia is many things." WIDE OF NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SAUDI FOREIGN MINISTER, PRINCE SAUDI AL-FAISAL, SAYING: "Have two different kinds of differences, differences in objective and differences in tactics. Some of theses differences are an objectives, very few, most of the differences are in tactics." WIDE OF CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE, JOHN KERRY, SAYING: "The United states appreciates Saudi Arabia leadership supporting the Syrian opposition coalition and its strong commitment to achieving a political solution to the crises which is we have always said really has only one solution and that is a negotiated political solution. This crisis will not end through military force in our judgment." VARIOUS OF REPORTERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE, JOHN KERRY, SAYING: "There is no difference about our mutually agreed upon objective in Syria. As I have said many times before, Assad has lost all legitimacy. And Assad must go." VARIOUS OF REPORTERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE, JOHN KERRY, SAYING: "Absent a negotiated solution we don't see a lot of ways to end the violence certainly that are implementable or palatable to us because we don't have the legal authority or justification or the desire at this point to get in the middle of a civil war." REPORTERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE, JOHN KERRY, SAYING: "Nothing that we are doing with respect to this negotiation (with Iran) will alter or upset or get in the way of the relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia and the relationships in this region." JOURNALIST TYPING (SOUNDBITE) (English)UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF STATE JOHN KERRY, SPEAKING AT NEWS CONFERENCE SAYING: "Did I give some assurances with respect to Iran? Yes absolutely of course I did." (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE, JOHN KERRY, SAYING: "Let me categorically dispel any notion that there is anything other than the track that is formally engaged in between Israel and the Palestinians and the only plan we have at this point in time is to pursue that discussion." REPORTER TYPING KERRY AND AL-FAISAL SHAKING HANDS AT END OF NEWS CONFERENCE
  • Embargoed: 19th November 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Saudi Arabia
  • Country: Saudi Arabia
  • Topics: International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAF4BX5X39WLWQEDOFFIVQCHV4G
  • Story Text: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met King Abdullah on Monday (November 4) and praised the U.S. alliance with Saudi Arabia as strategic and enduring, but strains in the nearly 70-year-old relationship were apparent over Syria and other issues.
    Kerry visited the Gulf oil power on a mission to soothe disagreements that also extend to U.S. policy on Iran, Egypt and the Palestinian issue, but despite a public show of friendship, big differences remained.

    "Our relationship is strategic, it is enduring, it covers of wide range of bilateral and regional issues," Kerry said at a news conference in Riyadh.
    The visit is the first since Saudi anger boiled over at the U.S. decision not to bomb Syria in the wake of a chemical weapons attack on the outskirts of Damascus in August. A senior prince said at that time that Riyadh was contemplating a "major shift" away from Washington.
    Saudi concerns are also partly founded on a fear that President Barack Obama's moves to reduce tensions with Iran will give the kingdom's main regional adversary an opportunity to extend its influence in Arab countries.
    In comments that may go towards reassuring the Saudis that the U.S. shares its concerns, Kerry reiterated that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad must stand down, and that Washington will not allow Iran to get a nuclear weapon.
    He said he had offered Saudi leaders assurances that the United States would do nothing in talks with Iran to alter, upset, or get in the way of the relationship with Riyadh, and there would be "no surprises" for the kingdom.
    However, while both Kerry and Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal dismissed recent disagreements as being over tactics rather than ultimate goals, both repeated positions that reflect a wide rift on how they see the Middle East.
    Riyadh views Syria's war as a critical contest for regional supremacy between a Shi'ite coalition backed by Iran and a pro-Western Sunni alliance of Gulf countries, Turkey and Egypt.
    It has lobbied Washington for more than a year to take a more active role in the conflict, either with air strikes and the imposition of a no-fly zone, or by training and arming the opposition.
    But the U.S. has stepped back from those options, unwilling to be drawn into a messy civil war and worried that any aid it gives rebels may end up in the hands of Islamist militants.
    Speaking alongside Prince Saud, Kerry said there could be no military solution to Syria's problems and that the U.S. had neither "the legal authority nor desire" to intervene.

    "The United states appreciates Saudi Arabia leadership supporting the Syrian opposition coalition and its strong commitment to achieving a political solution to the crises which is we have always said really has only one solution and that is a negotiated political solution. This crisis will not end through military force in our judgment."
    He added that although Washington would continue to support moderate elements in the opposition, it was worried about Islamist forces growing in strength.
    But while Prince Saud said he understood the importance of talks, he repeated Riyadh's position that they could not be allowed to continue indefinitely while Assad remained in power.

    "There is no difference about our mutually agreed upon objective in Syria. As I have said many times before, Assad has lost all legitimacy. And Assad must go," said Kerry.
    Kerry also said the U.S. would continue to pursue the current track of negotiations on Middle East peace, and Washington would support economic transformation in Egypt.
    Saudi Arabia is angry that the U.S. has not pushed Israel hard enough to stop settlement construction and that it did not back Egypt's military after it ousted a Muslim Brotherhood government in July.

    "Let me categorically dispel any notion that there is anything other than the track that is formally engaged in between Israel and the Palestinians and the only plan we have at this point in time is to pursue that discussion," Kerry said.
    In addition to Riyadh, Jerusalem and Bethlehem, Kerry will make stops in Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Algeria and Morocco on his current trip.
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