--- description: The president's visit will come after a swing through Europe title: Barack Obama to Visit Saudi Arabia in March image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Middle East](/tag/middle-east/) ## Middle East Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Obama Will Travel to Saudi Arabia in March  by [Andrew Katz](/author/andrew-katz/)  ## Andrew Katz Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 3, 2014 5:41 PM CUT  by [Andrew Katz](/author/andrew-katz/)  ## Andrew Katz Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 3, 2014 5:41 PM CUT The White House [confirmed](http://www.usatoday.com/story/theoval/2014/02/03/obama-saudi-arabia-iran-wall-steet-journal/5182673/ "undefined") on Monday that President Obama will make his first visit to Saudi Arabia in March to meet with King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud. Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, said Obama and King Abdullah are expected to discuss the two countries’ bilateral relations and a number of key security issues in the Gulf like regional extremism, spillover from Syria’s civil war and Saudi concerns about the U.S.-led efforts to broker nuclear negotiations with Iran, the Kingdom’s regional adversary. The trip was first [reported](http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303743604579355130624805514?ru=yahoo?mod=yahoo%5Fitp&mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702303743604579355130624805514.html%3Fru%3Dyahoo%3Fmod%3Dyahoo%5Fitp "undefined") last week by the _Wall Street_ _Journal_, which cited Arab officials claiming relations between the two countries were “deteriorating,” despite the White House’s no-comment. It will be tacked onto the end of Obama’s visits to the Netherlands, Belgium and Italy, where he will meet Pope Francis. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3621/obama-will-travel-to-saudi-arabia-in-march/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3621/obama-will-travel-to-saudi-arabia-in-march/"},"headline":"Obama Will Travel to Saudi Arabia in March","datePublished":"2014-02-03T17:41:25.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T06:16:47.166Z","description":"The president's visit will come after a swing through Europe","url":"https://time.com/3621/obama-will-travel-to-saudi-arabia-in-march/","keywords":["Middle East","Iran","Obama"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Andrew Katz","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/andrew-katz/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/middle-east/","name":"Middle East"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3621/obama-will-travel-to-saudi-arabia-in-march/","name":"Obama Will Travel to Saudi Arabia in March"}}]}] ```