Obama in Saudi Arabia on fence-mending visit

U.S. President Barack Obama held talks with Saudi Arabia's King Salman on April 20 as he began a two-day visit hoping to ease tensions with the historic U.S. ally.

Riyadh and its Sunni Arab Gulf allies have bristled at what they see as Washington's tilt toward regional rival Iran after Tehran's landmark nuclear deal with world powers.

Obama, on what is expected to be his last visit to Saudi Arabia as president, is to attend a summit of Gulf leaders on April 21 focused on intensifying the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and resolving the wars in Syria in Yemen.

Following Obama's arrival, the two exchanged brief greetings before heading into bilateral talks.

"I and the Saudi people are very pleased that you, Mr. President, are visiting us," Salman said. Obama responded that the United States was "very grateful for your hospitality." 

The president was earlier welcomed at the airport by Prince Faisal bin Abdulaziz, the governor of Riyadh, after walking down a red carpet on the stairs from Air Force One.

Unusually, Saudi state news channel Al-Ekhbaria did not broadcast Obama's arrival as it did during his visit last year to pay respects after the death of Salman's predecessor, King Abdullah.

Tensions between Riyadh and Washington have increased sharply due to what Saudi Arabia sees as Obama's disengagement from traditional U.S. allies in the region and opening toward Iran.
 
Though the visit is being touted as an "alliance-building" effort, "it will just as likely highlight how far Washington and Riyadh have drifted apart in the past eight years," Simon Henderson, of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, wrote in Foreign Policy magazine.

"For Obama, the...