President Donald Trump began his four-day trip to the Middle East on Tuesday by meeting Saudi Arabia's powerful leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. They talked about how the U.S. is trying to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons, end the fighting in Gaza, keep oil prices down, and other things.

Prince Mohammed gave a warm welcome to Trump when he got off Air Force One, starting his tour of the Middle East.

The two leaders then went to a large room at the Riyadh airport. There, staff wearing special belts for guns gave Trump and his team traditional Arabic coffee.

The impressive ceremony started before Trump's plane arrived. Saudi planes flew alongside Air Force One as it neared the capital.

Mr. Trump and Prince Mohammed were supposed to have lunch at the Royal Court. Many important business leaders were also invited, such as Stephen Schwarzman from Blackstone, Larry Fink from BlackRock, and Elon Musk from Tesla and SpaceX.

Musk also leads the Department of Government Efficiency. This is a new project from his second term as president that aims to find and stop waste, cheating, and illegal actions in the U.S. government.

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Saudi oil company Aramco made $26 billion in profit in the first three months of the year. This is 4.6% less than they made in the same period last year.

Later, the prince will have a formal dinner for Trump. Trump is also expected to participate in a US-Saudi investment conference on Tuesday.

"When people from Saudi Arabia and America work together, good things often happen, even great things," said Khalid al-Falih, the Saudi Investment Minister.

Saudi Arabia and other OPEC+ countries helped Trump early in his second term by producing more oil. Trump thinks cheap energy is important for lowering costs and controlling rising prices for Americans. The president has also said that lower oil prices might help end Russia's war in Ukraine more quickly.

However, Saudi Arabia's economy depends a lot on oil. The country needs oil prices to be between $96 and $98 per barrel to have enough money for its budget. It is not clear how long OPEC+, which Saudi Arabia is a main part of, will keep producing a lot of oil. The price of Brent crude oil was $64.77 when Monday finished.

Lower oil prices are a problem for Gulf countries. They don't necessarily stop plans to make their economies stronger in different ways, but they definitely make these plans harder, says Jon Alterman, an expert on the Middle East.

Trump chose Saudi Arabia for his first visit because they said they would invest a lot in the U.S. However, he went to Italy last month for Pope Francis' funeral instead. Riyadh was the first place he visited outside the U.S. during his first time as president.

The president is visiting three countries: Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. In these countries, the Trump Organization, which is run by Trump's two older sons, is working on big building projects. These projects include a tall building in Jeddah, a luxury hotel in Dubai, and a golf course with homes in Qatar.

Trump wants to show that his way of making deals in international politics is successful. This is happening while Democrats criticize him, saying his trade disputes and his actions about Russia's war in Ukraine are making the US lose friends around the world.

He is expected to announce agreements with three rich countries. These deals will involve artificial intelligence, increasing energy cooperation, and possibly selling new weapons to Saudi Arabia. Earlier this month, the government gave initial permission to sell $3.5 billion of missiles for Saudi Arabia's fighter planes.

But Trump arrived in the Middle East when his main allies, Israel and Saudi Arabia, did not fully agree with his plans.

Before the trip, Trump announced that the U.S. would stop its airstrikes against Yemen's Houthis. These attacks had been happening for almost two months. He said the Houthis, who are supported by Iran, promised to stop attacking ships on a key global trade route.

The government didn't tell Israel about the agreement before Trump announced it. The Houthis are still attacking Israel.

In March, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu didn't know about the talks with Hamas about the war in Gaza until after they had started. He also only learned about the US talking with Iran about nuclear issues when Trump announced it during his visit last month.

Israel will protect itself on its own, Netanyahu said last week after Trump announced a ceasefire with the Houthi group. He added, 'If others help us, like our American friends, that would be even better.'

William Wechsler, who works for the Atlantic Council, said it was surprising that Trump did not visit Israel on his first trip to the Middle East.

Wechsler said the main message from this trip, as it is planned now, is that the Gulf governments are stronger friends to President Trump than the current government of Israel.

Meanwhile, Trump wants to try again with his plan from his first time in office to create normal relationships between the main powers in the Middle East, Israel and Saudi Arabia. Trump's Abraham Accords plan resulted in Sudan, the UAE, Bahrain, and Morocco agreeing to have normal relationships with Israel.

However, Riyadh has stated that for normal relations, it requires security assurances from the U.S., support for its nuclear program, and steps towards a Palestinian state. It appears challenging to advance towards a Palestinian state while the Israel-Hamas conflict continues and Israel is threatening to demolish and control Gaza.

Prince Mohammed recently welcomed Palestinian Vice President Hussein Sheikh to Jeddah. This was the Vice President's first visit outside his country since he started his job in April.

Hussain Abdul-Hussain, a researcher, said the crown prince seemed to be quietly telling Trump that Saudi Arabia needs to see progress on creating a Palestinian state before they can seriously start working on a peace deal with Israel.

Abdul-Hussain said that because the Saudis often show their plans beforehand, their statement is a warning, like saying, 'Don't even think about asking us to be friendly about making peace with Israel.'