President Donald Trump spent most of what was announced as a “main foreign policy speech” to describe his vision for the Middle East, promoting his national policies and praise on Tuesday praise to the Saudi heir prince Mohammed Bin Salman while talking in the United States investment forum.
Four years after the United States intelligence community report was published, which concluded that the heir prince approved the murder of the Washington Post Jamal Khashoggi journalist, Trump praised the heir prince for his leadership and friendship.
“He is your best representative, the best representative. And if I didn’t like it, I would get out of here so fast. Do you know that, he knows me well. I do, I like it very much. I like too much. That’s why we give so much, you know too much. I like you too much,” Trump said while talking in Saudi Arabia.
President Donald Trump shakes hand with the Saudi heir prince Mohammed Bin Salman Bin Abdulaziz to the Saud at the end of the Opening speech in the Saudi-US Investment Forum in Riad, Saudi Arabia, May 13, 2025.
Ali Haider/EPA-EFE/Shuttersock
The speech marks a notable turn of the United States, especially taking into account the international conviction that the then President Joe Biden received when he visited Saudi Arabia in 2022 and famous hit the heir prince. While they bid they once described Saudi Arabia as a “Paria”, Trump celebrated the kingdom, its leader and its potential.
“For the people of this room, the days of economic misery under the last administration are quickly giving way to the greatest economy in the history of the world,” Trump said.
Speaking to members of the Royal Family and some of the most powerful business leaders in the world, Trump accredited the heir prince for the recent economic development of Saudi Arabia.
“Riad is becoming not only a government headquarters, but also a large commercial, cultural and high -tech capital of the world,” Trump said.
“Mohammed, do you sleep at night? How do you sleep?” Trump said as the crowd applauded. “Critics doubted that it was possible, what you have done, but in the last eight years, Saudi Arabia has shown that critics are totally wrong.”
In this archive photo of July 15, 2022, the Saudi heir prince Mohammed Bin Salman, President Joe Biden upon arrival at the Palace to Salman, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Real Court of Saudi Arabia / Handut / Anadolu Agency through Getty Images, Archive
Throughout his comments, the heir prince smiled, applauding and laughing at Trump’s jokes, with billionaire Elon Musk sitting prominently on his shoulder.
The president also announced that he will order the end of the sanctions against Syria and suggested that he did so at the request of Saudi Arabia, as well as Turkey.
“Oh, what I do for the heir prince,” Trump joked. “The sanctions were brutal and paralyzing and served as an important, really important function, however, at that time. But now it is their time to shine.”
Trump then promoted his immigration policies, his victory in November and his own economic agenda.
“The United States is the most popular country, with the exception of its country,” Mohammed told Prince. “I have to say well, I will not. I’m not going to assume that. No, Muhammad, I’m not going to assume that.
