President Barack Obama arrived in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, leading a 30-member delegation that included officials and lawmakers, as well as senior officials from previous presidential administrations following the death of King Abdullah.
Underscoring the importance of a U.S.-Saudi alliance that extends beyond oil interests to regional security, Obama cut short the final day of his trip to India to make a four-hour stop in the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom.
While in Riyadh, President Obama and new Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz held their first formal talks. A U.S. official said the two leaders discussed a variety of Middle East security issues and stability on the oil market.
The official said Obama also raised the topic of human rights.
Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said Obama had a close relationship with King Abdullah, who was believed to be about 90 when he died on Friday, and wanted to forge the same ties with Salman.
Obama and King Abdullah "did not always agree, but they could be candid in their differences, but they were also able to do a lot of things together," he said.
"And I think he’ll want to develop the same kind of relationship with King Salman, where we’re able to move forward on areas of common interest and able to be very candid and frank with one another about developments in the region,” Rhodes said.
Asked by reporters aboard Air Force One whether the U.S. considered Salman of good health, Rhodes said, "We certainly do believe ... that he is ready to assume the duties of king of Saudi Arabia. ... And we believe that he’s made clear that he’s ready to take the reins and sustain the U.S. relationship that is based on a series of overlapping interests."
Obama's visit comes as Washington struggles with worsening strife in the Middle East and counts Saudi Arabia among its few steady partners in a campaign against Islamic State militants who have seized large swathes of Iraq and Syria.
The U.S. security headache worsened last week with the resignation of Yemen's government after clashes in the capital involving Iran-backed rebels -- a setback to U.S. efforts to contain al-Qaida in that country and to limit the regional influence of Shi'ite Muslim Iran.
The Yemen government's collapse will be of deep concern to Saudi Arabia because of the long border they share and because of the advance of Iran, Sunni Saudi's main regional rival.
Saudi Arabia's role in rallying Arab support for action with Western countries against the Islamic State group has won praise in Washington, which along with other Western nations values the kingdom as an important market for its defense industries.
In his initial days on the throne, Salman, 79, has given little indication that he plans to bring fundamental changes to his country's policies.
In a nationally televised address shortly after his half brother's death, Salman vowed to hew to “the correct policies which Saudi Arabia has followed since its establishment.”
Following King Abdullah's death last week, however, human rights groups have highlighted Saudi Arabia's history of prisoner executions, discrimination against women and minority groups, and quashing of political dissidents during his nine-year reign.
Obama acknowledged that the U.S. willingness to pursue close ties with Saudi Arabia despite human rights abuses often makes America's allies uncomfortable.
The president said he has found it most effective to apply steady pressure over human rights “even as we are getting business done that needs to get done.”
“Sometimes we need to balance our need to speak to them about human rights issues with immediate concerns we have in terms of counterterrorism or dealing with regional stability,” Obama said in a CNN interview that aired in advance of Obama's arrival in Riyadh.
“On this visit, obviously a lot of this is just paying respects to King Abdullah, who in his own fashion presented some modest reform efforts within the kingdom,” Obama said.
While in India, Obama had stressed the issues of equality for women and religious tolerance during a speech. Rhodes was asked by reporters aboard Air Force One if Obama, who has two daughters, would raise those same issues in his meeting with Salman.
"What the president would say is that it’s not simply a matter of the United States telling other countries what they should do. It's frankly the fact that societies are more successful when they respect those type of universal values," Rhodes answered.