Blinken has ‘very productive meeting’ with Saudi crown price amid Gaza war crisis regional tour

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken calls for pressure on Hamas during a meeting with the de facto leader of Saudi Arabia, which has warming ties with Israel but has put normalization on hold.

The top US diplomat met for nearly an hour in the early morning with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the royal’s farm residence in the Riyadh area, a US official says.

“Very productive,” Blinken says when asked about the meeting after returning to his hotel.

Blinken “highlighted the United States’ unwavering focus on halting terrorist attacks by Hamas, securing the release of all hostages and preventing the conflict from spreading,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller says.

“The two affirmed their shared commitment to protecting civilians and to advancing stability across the Middle East and beyond,” Miller says.

Blinken has been touring the region after Hamas fighters infiltrated Israel from the Gaza Strip on October 7 in a massive onslaught and killed 1,300 people, mostly civilians, and took about 150-200 hostages.