During a telephone call with U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday, Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz agreed to support safe zones in Syria and Yemen, a White House statement said. During his presidential campaign last year, Trump had called for the Gulf States to pay for establishing safe zones designed to protect Syrian refugees.
A statement after the phone call said the two leaders agreed on the importance of strengthening joint efforts to fight the spread of Daesh militants.
"The president requested and the king agreed to support safe zones in Syria and Yemen, as well as supporting other ideas to help the many refugees who have been displaced by the ongoing conflicts," the statement said.
In an initial readout of the call, the Saudi Press Agency made no specific mention of safe zones, but said the two leaders had affirmed the "depth and durability of the strategic relationship" between the two countries.
The agency later said, "The custodian of the Two Holy Mosques had confirmed his support and backing for setting up safe zones in Syria," but did not mention Yemen, where a Saudi alliance is fighting against the Iran-aligned Houthi group.
A senior Saudi source told Reuters that the two leaders spoke for more than an hour on the telephone and agreed to step up counterterrorism, military cooperation and to enhance economic cooperation. But the source had no information on whether the two leaders discussed Trump's order to put a four-month hold on allowing refugees into the U.S., and the temporary ban on travelers from Syria and six other Muslim-majority countries.
The U.S. and Saudi Arabia have a decades-old relationship based on the exchange of American security for Saudi oil, but ties between Riyadh and Washington became increasingly frayed during the eight-year administration of former President Barack Obama.
Saudi leaders felt Obama was reluctant to get involved in the civil war in Syria and other regional conflicts. Riyadh's Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said he expects the Trump administration to be more engaged in the Middle East and the world in general, while "rebuilding" relationships with allies.
Salman and Trump invited each other to visit their respective capitals, the Saudi Press Agency said. "The two leaders agreed to schedule the visits in the coming period," it said.
Trump and King Salman also "agreed on the importance of rigorously enforcing the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with Iran and on addressing Iran's destabilizing regional activities," the White House said.
Tehran is a major foe of both Washington and Riyadh. The Sunni-majority Saudi kingdom is engaged in a power struggle with the Shiite country for dominance in the region.
The two leaders want to "rigorously" enforce the Iran nuclear deal, the White House said on Sunday, despite the U.S. leader's long opposition to the agreement. Trump opposed the nuclear agreement signed by Israel's archenemy Iran and world powers, including the U.S., in 2015 and has said he wants to undo it.
Some of his key nominees have adopted an openly anti-Iran stance, including Secretary of State candidate Rex Tillerson, who is seeking a complete revision of the accord.
Last month, Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu said there were many ways of "undoing" the Iran nuclear deal and that he would discuss it with Trump. Before he left office, former President Barack Obama warned against rowing back the pact, emphasizing its "significant and concrete results." The deal places curbs on Tehran's nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions.