Diyar Güldoğan
18 July 2025•Update: 18 July 2025
WASHINGTON
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Bahrain's Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa met Thursday for talks.
Hegseth hosted an enhanced honor cordon for Al Khalifa at the Pentagon.
"We're eager to review how we can enhance self-defense capabilities, how we can work side by side in our collective ability to take advantage of these opportunities right now.
"So plenty to work on, plenty to talk about, but all built on a foundation of strong cooperation for quite some time," Hegseth said ahead of the closed-door meeting.
Hegseth said he is looking forward to a "productive" discussion.
Al Khalifa said Bahrain will continue to deepen its relationship with the US, stressing that he is proud of this "strong" cooperation.
"I am all ears to hear how we can help, and we will also be explaining some of our defense requirements and how we can work together to build those as well," he added.
US President Donald Trump hosted Al Khalifa on Wednesday at the White House, where the crown prince announced plans to invest more than $17 billion in the US.
