RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, May 4, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - US President Donald Trump is 
due to meet the heads of state of six Gulf countries while on a visit to 
Riyadh later this month, a source close to the Saudi government told AFP on 
Sunday.

Trump's visit to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates from May 13 
to 16 will be the first foreign trip of his second term -- other than a brief 
visit to Rome for the funeral of Pope Francis.

"Trump will meet the leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in 
Riyadh", the source said, referring to an alliance comprising Saudi Arabia, 
the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Oman.

The goal of the meeting is to reinforce "political and economic cooperation", 
the source said, requesting anonymity because they were not authorised to 
speak to the media.

Ahead of the visit, the United States on Friday approved a $3.5 billion sale 
of missiles to Saudi Arabia.

Trump has boasted of securing major commercial deals from oil-rich Saudi 
Arabia, which has also been a key go-between for US diplomacy on Russia and 
Ukraine.

The visit to Riyadh comes after the United States and Iran, located across 
the Gulf from the GCC countries, had begun indirect negotiations on Tehran's 
nuclear programme.

Trump has warned Iran that he would enforce sanctions while calling for the 
global boycott of "any amount" of Iranian oil or petrochemicals, after a 
round of talks scheduled fort this weekend was delayed.

The US president, who ripped up an earlier nuclear deal in 2018, has voiced 
hope at securing a fresh agreement to resolve concerns and stave off the 
possibility of an Israeli military strike on Iran.

Another policy objective that may be on the horizon for Trump is a long-
sought-after deal between Saudi Arabia and Israel, similar to the Abraham 
Accords he sealed during his first mandate.

Saudi Arabia has, however, insisted it would not consider any such 
normalisation deal without an end to the war in Gaza.