Saudi
Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud will no longer be in
attendance at President Barack Obama's meetings with Arab leaders from
the Gulf Cooperation Council this week.
The
late change of plans, could be seen as a snub to Obama, coming just
four days before the start of two days of sessions beginning Wednesday
and culminating in a Camp David summit on Thursday.
"We
first learned of the King's possible change of plans from the Saudis on
Friday night," said a senior administration official. "This was
confirmed by the Saudis on Saturday. We coordinated closely with our
Saudi partners on the alternate arrangement and timing of the
announcement, and look forward to welcoming Crown Prince Mohammed bin
Nayef and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman."
The
Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in a statement acknowledged the King's
absence was "due to the timing of the summit, the scheduled humanitarian
ceasefire in Yemen and the opening of the King Salman Center for
Humanitarian Aid."
"I want to lay to
rest this notion of this being a snub or a problem with the
relationship," Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir told Wolf Blitzer
on CNN's Situation Room on Monday.
The king called Obama on Monday, though, White House deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said in the afternoon.
State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf backed the Saudi version of the king's absence during a press briefing Monday.
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