Ambassador Stephen Seche, AGSIW executive vice president, spoke with Al Hayat about Saudi Arabian King Salman’s visit to Washington this week. Seche highlighted the significance of the timing of Salman’s first visit, since coming to power, to Washington ahead of a vote by the U.S. Congress on the Iran nuclear deal. Seche said he expected the Iranian issue to have great importance in the talks between Salman and President Barack Obama considering Iran’s role in destabilizing a number of states in the region, especially Syria, Iran, and Yemen. Although he believed that the implementation of the commitments made by Obama to Gulf leaders and officials at Camp David would dominate the agenda, especially the work of the security committees, as well as maritime security, counterterrorism, and the war against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant.

In a Bloomberg article on how the decline in U.S. dependence on foreign oil has shifted U.S.-Saudi relations, AGSIW Senior Resident Scholar Karen Young noted, “It’s new territory, a new phase of bilateral relations.” She continued, “Some of it is shifting leadership, which will have its own prerogatives, and some of it is the economics.”

Speaking to BBC Persian, Seche also noted the importance of the timing of Salman’s visit to Washington. He added that Iran’s regional role will be high on the agenda as Salman would urge U.S. support in confronting Iran and not turning a blind eye to its behavior.

In a Bloomberg article on how the decline in U.S. dependence on foreign oil has shifted U.S.-Saudi relations, AGSIW Senior Resident Scholar Karen Young noted, “It’s new territory, a new phase of bilateral relations.” She continued, “Some of it is shifting leadership, which will have its own prerogatives, and some of it is the economics.”

In a Council on Foreign Relations Expert Roundup, AGSIW Senior Resident Scholar Hussein Ibish discussed the GCC states’ perspectives on the nuclear deal with Iran. While he acknowledged the GCC endorsement of the agreement, Ibish recognized, “A newly hawkish Saudi Arabia has demonstrated it is willing to use military force to try to roll back Iran’s influence in the Gulf.”

Addressing the contrasting policies of Saudi Arabia and the United States on Syria, speaking with Al Arabiya, Ibish noted, “I think the United States is put in a situation where it really has to re-examine its approach to Syria, and Iraq, both.”