SECRETARY OF DEFENSE PETE HEGSETH: Well, welcome, your royal highness. Thank you very much for being here. It is our pleasure to welcome you to the Pentagon, although you're no stranger to the Pentagon. I also want to welcome your delegation, including her highness, Princess Reema bint Bandar. Did I get that right?Â
REEMA BINT BANDAR: Indeed. Thank you.
SECRETARY HEGSETH: Thank you. The kingdom's ambassador to Washington. Glad to have you. And on behalf of President Trump, welcome. And as you know, he's made it clear in his administration, we're going to pursue peace through strength and put America first, but that does not mean ignoring partnerships. And in fact, it requires greater attention to the ones that matter the most, and our partnership with Saudi Arabia matters a great deal. President Trump demonstrated this when he made his first overseas phone call to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on January 23rd. He also made his first visit in his first term, as you, I know, recall in his first term.
We've got tremendous opportunities to pursue security and stability in the Middle East, combat terrorism and increase mutual prosperity. Our cooperation, as you know, has been long standing. Eighty years ago, last week, our heads of state held their first historic meeting aboard the USS Quincy in the Suez Canal. And since then, we've worked to take on terrorism and all of its manifestations. Today, with the groups like the Houthis, build interoperability and forge multilateral approaches in many ways, through Saudi leadership.
Today, our relationship is a critical center of gravity in a very turbulent region in the world. So I want to thank the kingdom, also, more specifically, for hosting important discussions between the United States and Russia as we pursue one of President Trump's top priorities, which is bringing peace to the war in Ukraine. And I also want to continue deepening and strengthening our partnership to pursue security and prosperity for both Americans and Saudis. So I'm very much looking forward to a great discussion. Thank you for joining us today, you and your entire delegation. Thank you.Â
HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS KHALED BIN SALMAN: Thank you, Mr. Secretary. I would like to begin with by conveying the greetings of and the countless . It's a great pleasure to be among you today, and I look forward to continuing our joint effort to advance the long-standing relationship between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United States. As you mentioned, Mr. Secretary, we live in a turbulent region, and our relationship and our work together and cooperation is vital. It has always been vital, and it's even more important these days to continue to coordinate and work together to make sure the region is stable and the world is stable, and we are looking forward to having a very constructive discussion today to reach our mutual rules. And I'm pretty sure that with our strong relationship, we will achieve a lot together.
SECRETARY HEGSETH: Absolutely. I know you feel comfortable here too. I know you're a fighter pilot. Got some pilots here too. So, I appreciate that. We have a couple questions today.
Q: Mr. Secretary, why did you select an underqualified retired lieutenant general to be the next chairman of joint chief of staff, given that--
SECRETARY HEGSETH: I'm going to choose to reject your unqualified question.
Q: How did the three JAGs that you say you're replacing present roadblocks, as you said, to what the president is wanting to do?Â
SECRETARY HEGSETH: It's not about roadblocks to an agenda. It's roadblocks to orders that are given by a commander in chief. So ultimately, I want the best possible lawyers in each service to provide the best possible recommendations, no matter what, to lawful orders that are given. And we didn't think those particular positions were well-suited, and so we're looking for the best. We're opening it up to everybody to be able to be the top lawyer of those services.Â
UNKNOWN: Two more questions.Â
Q: Mr. Secretary, will the U.S. help defend Saudi Arabia against attacks by Iran and its proxies?Â
SECRETARY HEGSETH: Well, certainly that's a topic we're going to talk about today. Iran is a big concern in the region. Saudi Arabia has been a great partner, and that's something we're going to discuss today.Â
UNKNOWN: Last question.
SECRETARY HEGSETH: No more questions. All right. There we go.
UNKNOWN: Great. Thank you.Â
UNKNOWN: Thank you. We're leaving now.
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