G20: Trump to Discuss Iran with Putin, MBS

By Staff, Agencies

US President Donald Trump plans to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman [MBS] on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Japan this week to discuss the increasingly tense flare up with Iran, a White House official told Reuters on Monday.

MBS established strong ties with the Trump administration, partly over its shared foe Tehran. Putin, however, has been backing Iran in Syria during the latter’s years-long war.

Tehran, for its part, repeatedly stresses that the Guards are serving as "military advisors" in Syria.

In the wake of tensions between the US and the Islamic Republic, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with MBS and King Salman in Saudi Arabia on Monday, to discuss strengthening maritime security to promote "freedom of navigation" in the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump plans to meet with at least eight other leaders over the course of the summit but most notably is Chinese President Xi Jinping whose country has been deadlocked for months in a trade war with the US.