Saudi Arabia’s defence minister, Prince Khalid bin Salman, paid an unannounced visit to the White House on Thursday and met President Donald Trump, according to multiple officials familiar with the talks. The discussion centred on lowering tensions with Iran, advancing cease-fire and hostage negotiations in Gaza and exploring a path toward eventual normalisation of relations between Riyadh and Jerusalem. The meeting took place a week before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is due in Washington, underscoring Washington’s push to broaden the 2020 Abraham Accords. Sources said the two sides also reviewed terms of a pending U.S.–Saudi defence and trade package and compared assessments of Iran’s military posture following recent flare-ups in the Gulf. After seeing Trump, the Saudi minister held separate sessions with Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth. While the White House did not publicly list the engagement on the president’s schedule, participants described the tone as “optimistic” and noted incremental progress on each file.