Saudi's newly appointed King Salman (R) shakes hands with US President Barack Obama at Erga Palace in Riyadh. AFP
AFP/ Riyadh
US President Barack Obama flew in to Saudi Arabia Tuesday, leading a heavyweight delegation to offer condolences on King Abdullah's death and shore up ties.
Air Force One touched down at King Khalid International Airport in the capital Riyadh, arriving from India where Obama cut short a state visit to travel to Saudi.
Saudi television showed new King Salman welcoming Obama and his wife Michelle at the bottom of a red-carpeted ramp before a military band played the US and Saudi national anthems.
King Salman's heir Crown Prince Moqren and Mohammed bin Nayef, the powerful interior minister who is second in line to the throne, were among those who greeted the American delegation.
Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi was also among the delegation.
The US president then boarded a black limousine taking him to talks with King Salman at a palace in the city centre.
The four-hour stopover was also to include a dinner before the US delegation continues on to Germany.
King Salman, 79, acceded to the throne after Abdullah died on Friday aged about 90.
Authorities deployed armoured vehicles, police cars and radar all along the route into the city from the airport to secure Obama's visit, an AFP reporter observed.
A row of stars and stripes flags flew beside Saudi Arabia's green standards.
Among the 29 members of Obama's delegation are former Bush-era officials including James Baker, secretary of state during the first Gulf War against Iraq's Saddam Hussein, former national security adviser Brent Scowcroft, and Condoleezza Rice, who served as secretary of state under George W. Bush.
IS, Yemen on agenda
Central Intelligence Agency director John Brennan and General Lloyd J. Austin III, head of US Central Command, also accompanied Obama.
They had all been with him in India but Secretary of State John Kerry and Senator John McCain joined the president especially for his Saudi trip.
"We wanted to make sure that we had bipartisan representation given the deep congressional interest in Saudi Arabia," Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said.
McCain, a Republican, chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, and had been in Saudi Arabia as part of a Middle East tour several days ago.
During that trip he called for "additional US boots on the ground in Iraq and Syria" to defeat the Islamic State group.
Rhodes confirmed in New Delhi that the turmoil in Yemen and the battle against IS would figure among "leading issues" on the Riyadh agenda.
"Clearly that would include the continued counter-ISIL campaign where the Saudis have been a partner and have joined us in military operations," he said, using an alternative acronym for IS.
"That of course also includes the situation in Yemen where we have coordinated very closely with Saudi Arabia and the other countries."
