On Tuesday, President Donald Trump started his four-day trip to the Middle East by meeting Saudi Arabia's leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. They talked about America's plans to stop Iran having nuclear weapons, end the fighting in Gaza, keep oil prices low, and other things.

Prince Mohammed gave a friendly welcome to Trump when he arrived from Air Force One at the start of his trip in the Middle East.

The two leaders went into a large hall at the Riyadh airport, where Trump and his helpers were given traditional Arabic coffee by people wearing special belts with guns.

The impressive ceremony started before Trump's plane even arrived. Saudi fighter jets flew alongside his plane as it neared the country's capital city.

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

Musk is also in charge of the Department of Government Efficiency. This is a new and debated plan for his second time in office. Its goal is to find and stop waste, fraud, and misuse of money in the U.S. government.

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Saudi Arabian oil company Aramco made a profit of $26 billion 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 honor Trump with a formal dinner, and Trump is also expected to attend a U.S.-Saudi investment conference on Tuesday.

"When Saudis and Americans work together, good things often happen," said Saudi Investment Minister Khalid al-Falih.

Saudi Arabia and other OPEC+ countries increased how much oil they produced. This helped them with Trump early in his second term. Trump thinks cheap energy is important for making things less expensive and stopping prices from rising too fast in the US. He also said that lower oil prices would help finish Russia's war in Ukraine more quickly.

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

Jon Alterman, an expert on the Middle East, said that lower oil prices make it harder for countries in the Gulf to create different kinds of businesses, but it won't necessarily stop them.

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

The president will visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. These countries are all locations where the Trump Organization, managed by Trump's two older sons, is building large real estate developments. For example, they are constructing a tall building in Jeddah, an expensive hotel in Dubai, and a golf course with houses in Qatar.

Trump wants to show his way of dealing with other countries, which is like trading, is successful. Democrats criticize him, saying his taxes on goods from other countries and his actions about Russia's war in Ukraine are making the US separate from its allies.

He is expected to announce agreements with three rich countries. These agreements will include artificial intelligence, working together more on energy, and maybe selling new weapons to Saudi Arabia. Earlier this month, the government first agreed to sell air-to-air missiles worth $3.5 billion for Saudi Arabia's fighter planes.

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

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

The government did not tell Israel about the agreement before Trump announced it publicly. The Houthis still attack Israel.

In March, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not informed by the US government about their discussions with Hamas regarding the war in Gaza until after the talks had already begun. Additionally, Netanyahu only discovered the US talks with Iran about nuclear power when Trump announced them during a visit to the Oval Office last month.

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

William Wechsler, a senior director at 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 point from this, based on the current plan, is that the governments in the Gulf are better friends with President Trump right now than the current government of Israel.

Trump wants to continue his earlier work to make relations normal between important Middle Eastern countries, Israel and Saudi Arabia. His previous plan, called the Abraham Accords, resulted in Sudan, the UAE, Bahrain, and Morocco agreeing to have normal relations with Israel.

But Riyadh has said that to make peace, it wants the U.S. to promise security, help with its nuclear program, and progress towards a Palestinian state. However, it seems hard to make progress on a Palestinian state while the war between Israel and Hamas is happening and Israel is threatening to destroy and take control of Gaza.

Last week, Prince Mohammed welcomed the Palestinian Vice President, Hussein Sheikh, to Jeddah for his first visit abroad since he took office 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 a Palestinian state before they can seriously start a peace deal with Israel.

"Because we know how the Saudis usually show their plans, that message is like a warning: 'Don't even think about asking us to be friendly or become normal friends,'" Abdul-Hussain said.