Iran Press/America: Speaking to a to cheering crowd at a rally in Southaven, Mississippi on Tuesday Trump said: “We protect Saudi Arabia. Would you say they’re rich. And I love the King, King Salman. But I said ‘King – we’re protecting you – you might not be there for two weeks without us – you have to pay for your military.”
According to the daily beast, Trump did not say when he made those remarks to the Saudi monarch.
Trump made Saudi Arabia his first stop on his maiden international trip as president last year.
Trump called King Salman on Saturday and they discussed efforts being made to maintain supplies to ensure oil market stability and global economic growth, according to the Saudi state news agency SPA.
Saudi Arabia is the world’s top oil exporter and the de facto leader of OPEC, which has been criticized by Trump for high oil prices.
Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly in New York last month, Trump said OPEC members were “as usual ripping off the rest of the world.”
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“We defend many of these nations for nothing, and then they take advantage of us by giving us high oil prices. Not good. We want them to stop raising prices, we want them to start lowering prices,” Trump said.
In his speech to the UN general assembly Trump also chided US allies, such as Japan, South Korea and Germany, for not doing enough to pay for the financial burden of their defence.
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