The United States and Saudi Arabia promised each other and the region today that they would continue to work together, with Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal saying "our two friendly countries" are busy dealing jointly with troublesome issues like Syria, Iran and the Mideast peace process.
"There is no room for emotion and anger here, but rather for policies of commonsense and level-headedness," Faisal said at a joint news conference with Kerry.
Nevertheless, US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived for his visit to Saudi Arabia as differences between the two countries intensified over the Obama administration's policy toward war-torn Syria, its movement toward a possible dialogue with Iran, a regional rival of the Saudis, and its stance on Egypt's military coup.
Al-Faisal also expressed his deep frustration with the United Nations, where the Saudis recently rejected a seat on the Security Council because of its inability to achieve progress in the Syria or for the Palestinians.
The prince told Kerry: "A true relationship between friends is based on sincerity, candor and frankness, rather than mere courtesy." The pair appeared together not long after Kerry, speaking to US employees at the American Embassy here, hailed the kingdom's role as "the senior player" in the Middle East.
For his part, Kerry said: "this is a deep relationship and it has endured for 75 years and it will endure well into the future."
Kerry in the past has played down the separate stances as differences in "tactics" rather than in the end goal.
"Right now, we have some very important things to talk about to make certain that the Saudi Arabian-US relationship is on track, moving forward and doing the things that we need to accomplish," he told the embassy staffers.
Kerry listed a number of key areas, including Syria, Egypt and Iran, but also mentioned the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and the broader effort to tamp down "nihilism" that leads to extremist violence.
The Saudis have complained that the United States did not follow through on its threat to punish Syrian President Bashar Assad with military strikes for his government's use of chemical weapons.
Last month, the Saudis won but turned down an elected seat on the UN Security Council, saying the body had proved itself largely meaningless because of its inability over two years to address the crisis in Syria.
