President Donald Trump started his four-day visit to the Middle East on Tuesday by meeting Saudi Arabia's main leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. They talked about how the U.S. is trying to stop Iran's nuclear program, end the fighting in Gaza, keep oil prices low, and other topics.

Prince Mohammed gave a friendly welcome to Trump when he got off his plane and started his trip in the Middle East.

Then, the two leaders went to a fancy room at the Riyadh airport. There, Trump and his team were given traditional Arabic coffee by staff who were wearing special belts with guns.

The ceremony started before Trump's plane even arrived. Saudi Arabian planes flew next to his plane as a sign of respect.

Trump and Prince Mohammed were going to a lunch at the Royal Court. Important business leaders like Stephen Schwarzman, Larry Fink, and Elon Musk were also invited.

Musk also leads the Department of Government Efficiency. This is a new and debated project in his second term. Its job is to find and stop waste, fraud, and abuse 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 time last year.

Later, the crown prince will hold a formal dinner for Trump. Trump is also expected to attend a U.S.-Saudi investment conference on Tuesday.

Saudi Investment Minister Khalid al-Falih said that when Saudis and Americans work together, good things usually happen, and sometimes great things happen.

Saudi Arabia and other OPEC+ countries have already helped Trump early in his second term by producing more oil. Trump thinks cheap energy is important for lowering costs and stopping inflation for Americans. The president also said that lower oil prices will help end Russia’s war on Ukraine faster.

However, Saudi Arabia's economy still depends a lot on oil, and the country needs the price of oil to be between $96 and $98 a barrel to balance its budget. It's not clear how long OPEC+, which Saudi Arabia is the main member of, will want to keep producing a lot of oil. On Monday, the price of Brent crude oil was $64.77 a barrel.

Lower oil prices make it harder for countries in the Gulf to diversify their economies, says Jon Alterman, an expert on the Middle East.

Trump chose Saudi Arabia as his first stop because it promised to invest a lot of money in the U.S. It was the first foreign country he visited as president.

The president will visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. In these countries, the Trump Organization, managed by his two older sons, is working on large building projects. These projects include a tall building in Jeddah, a luxury hotel in Dubai, and a golf course with houses in Qatar.

Trump wants to show that his way of doing deals in international politics is working well, as Democrats criticize him. They say his trade war and his actions about Russia's war in Ukraine are making the United States lose friends.

People expect him to announce agreements with three rich countries. These agreements will include artificial intelligence, working together more on energy, and possibly selling new weapons to Saudi Arabia. The government already said this month that they initially agreed to sell air-to-air missiles worth 3.5 billion dollars for Saudi Arabia’s fighter planes.

However, when Trump came to the Middle East, his main partners in the region, Israel and Saudi Arabia, did not completely agree with his ideas.

Before the trip, Trump said that the U.S. was stopping its bombing campaign in Yemen for almost two months. He explained that the Houthi rebels, who are supported by Iran, had promised to stop attacking ships on an important international trade route.

The government didn't tell Israel about the agreement before Trump announced it publicly. The Houthis are still attacking Israel. This showed again how Trump didn't tell the Israelis about his government's talks with groups they both saw as enemies.

In March, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not told about the talks with Hamas about the war in Gaza until after they had already begun. He also learned about the U.S. nuclear talks with Iran when President Trump announced them during Netanyahu's visit to the White House last month.

"Israel will protect itself," Netanyahu said last week after Trump announced a ceasefire with the Houthis. "If others help us, like our American friends, that would be even better."

William Wechsler, a senior leader at the Atlantic Council, said it was surprising that Trump did not visit Israel on his first trip to the Middle East.

Wechsler said that based on the current plan, the main point is that the governments of the Gulf countries are better friends to President Trump right now than the current government of Israel.

Trump wants to try again to make relations normal between the main powers in the Middle East, Israel and Saudi Arabia. He started this in his first time as president. Before, his effort called the Abraham Accords led to Sudan, the UAE, Bahrain, and Morocco agreeing to have normal relations with Israel.

However, Saudi Arabia has clearly said that to make peace with Israel, they want the U.S. to promise to protect them, help them with their nuclear plans, and make progress towards a Palestinian state. It seems unlikely that a Palestinian state will happen soon because of the war between Israel and Hamas, and because Israel is threatening to destroy and take control of Gaza.

Last week, Prince Mohammed welcomed Palestinian Vice President Hussein Sheikh in 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 Saudi leader seemed to be telling Trump that Saudi Arabia needs to see progress on a Palestinian state before they can start working on a peace deal with Israel.

Abdul-Hussain said that because the Saudis often show their plans in advance, this is a warning that means, 'Don't even consider asking us to be friendly about improving relations.'