“I don’t believe this relationship is broken, very far from it. This relationship is very robust. We have almost 80,000 Americans living and working in Saudi Arabia, we have a very strong trade and investment relationship. We work very closely with regards to ensuring our common interests, whether it’s to bring peace to Yemen, whether it’s to bring peace between the Israelis and Arabs, whether it’s to stabilize Afghanistan, whether it’s to reintegrate Iraq into the Arab fold.  Whether it’s to bring stability to the Horn of Africa, stability and peace in Libya, in the G5 countries of the Sahel whether it’s to fight extremism and terrorism, those interests are permanent and those interests are tremendously important to both countries, and to the security stability, not only of the region, but the world. And so that it is incumbent upon both countries to work together in order to realize the objectives that they both have, which occurred to the benefit of both people in both countries. Now, I can’t unfortunately, when you’re in the election season, what some people call the funny season, a lot of things are said and lots of things are done that maybe may not make sense at another period of time. And I hope that this is what we’re dealing with here. However, when it comes to the relationship between the two countries, it’s fundamental it’s very strong. And it’s fundamental and strong because the interests of the two countries require that they work very closely together in order to overcome the many challenges that they face.” 

HE Adel Al-Jubeir, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs [CNN]