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Vice President Kamala Harris welcomed King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein and Crown Prince Hussein bin Abdullah of Jordan to his residence on Tuesday for a working breakfast.
The 59-year-old King and his 27-year-old heir were greeted by Harris upon their arrival at the Naval Observatory early Tuesday for their second big Biden administration meeting of the trip.
After their breakfast, the two royals met with Secretary of State Tony Blinken.
On Monday, King Abdullah was greeted at the White House by President Biden, who was to make Iran a priority, from the return of the nuclear deal to Tehran’s funding of militias attacking US troops in Iraq and Syria.
“Many of us, leaders in our part of the world, will do the heavy lifting, which we must do on behalf of the United States, but you can always count on me, my country and many of our colleagues in the region. , â€The King of Jordan told the US Commander-in-Chief of the Oval Office.
For his part, Biden said Abdullah and Jordan had been a “loyal and decent good friend” living in a “difficult neighborhood”, referring to the Middle East.
Abdullah has challenged a number of recent US policies in the region. His relationship with President Donald Trump deteriorated in 2017, when Trump chose to move the US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Biden said that although he opposed the move at the time, he had no plans to reverse the decision. In fact, he pledged to build on the work of his predecessor, repeatedly praising the diplomatic achievements that brought the three countries together.
In addition, the Jordanian leader has opposed the Trump administration’s Abraham Accords, the deal normalizing relations between Israel and two Gulf countries, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.
Abdullah has long complained that he felt the Palestinians were left off the negotiating table when the deal was struck.
A senior administration official said ahead of the meeting that the president planned to tell Abdullah privately that the agreements are not a “race stop†to reaching a peace deal that includes a Palestinian state.
For Harris, she and Abdullah had spoken before Tuesday.
The vice president telephoned Abdullah in late May to discuss US efforts to support a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Harris said at the time that she informed him of “our intensive diplomatic efforts to support the path to a ceasefire in Gaza.”
Last week, a Jordanian state security court sentenced two former officials to 15 years in prison for an alleged conspiracy against the king discovered earlier this year and involving Abdullah’s half-brother.
With post wires
