Watch a live broadcast: Trump hosts Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the White House

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is scheduled to celebrate with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Tuesday when Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader makes his first visit to the White House since the 2018 killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents.

Trump is expected to hold a meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at 11:45 a.m. EST. Watch the live stream in our video player above.

The relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia deteriorated over the operation targeting Khashoggi, a fierce critic of the kingdom, which US intelligence agencies later determined that Prince Mohammed had ordered agents to carry out.

Read more: Trump said that he would sell F-35 aircraft to Saudi Arabia on the eve of the Crown Prince’s visit to Washington

But after seven years, the dark clouds surrounding the relationship have dissipated. Trump has intensified his embrace of the 40-year-old crown prince, whom he considers an indispensable player in shaping the Middle East in the coming decades. For his part, Prince Mohammed denies his involvement in the killing of Khashoggi, a Saudi citizen residing in Virginia.

Khashoggi will likely be an afterthought as the two leaders unveil multibillion-dollar deals and meet with their aides to discuss the difficult path ahead in the turbulent Middle East. They will end their day with an evening gala at the White House, organized by First Lady Melania Trump, to honor the prince.

“They have been a great ally,” Trump said of the Saudis on the eve of the visit.

Fighter aircraft and business deals

Before Prince Mohammed’s arrival, Trump announced that he had approved the sale of F-35 fighter jets to the Saudis despite some concerns within the administration that the sale could lead to China acquiring American technology behind the advanced weapons system.

Trump’s announcement is also surprising because some in the Republican administration have been wary about upsetting Israel’s qualitative military advantage over its neighbors, especially at a time when Trump is counting on Israeli support for the success of his Gaza peace plan.

Read more: Trump begins a 4-day tour of the Middle East to sign agreements with Saudi Arabia

But this unexpected move comes at a time when Trump is trying to push the Saudis towards normalizing relations with Israel.

In his first term, the president helped establish trade and diplomatic relations between Israel, Bahrain, Morocco, and the United Arab Emirates through an effort dubbed the Abraham Accords.

Trump sees the expansion of the agreements as essential to his broader efforts to build stability in the Middle East after the two-year war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

He says the signing of Saudi Arabia – the largest Arab economy and the birthplace of Islam – would create a massive domino effect. In fact, the president predicted in recent weeks that once Saudi Arabia signed the agreements, “everyone” in the Arab world “would join.”

Read more: The Saudi Crown Prince says that the Kingdom intends to invest $600 billion in the United States over the next four years

But the Saudis stressed that a clear path must first be determined towards establishing a Palestinian state before thinking about normalizing relations with Israel. At the same time, Israelis remain staunchly opposed to the creation of a Palestinian state.

The United Nations Security Council on Monday approved a US plan for Gaza that allows for the creation of an international stabilization force to provide security in the devastated region and envisions a possible future path to an independent Palestinian state.

Guarantees regarding US military support

The leaders are sure to have a lot to talk about, including maintaining the fragile ceasefire in Gaza, mutual concerns about Iran’s malign behavior, and Sudan’s brutal civil war.

The Saudis are looking forward to formal guarantees from Trump outlining the scope of US military protection for the kingdom, although anything not ratified by Congress could be undone by the next president.

He watches: State Department holds media briefing as US protects Saudi Crown Prince in Khashoggi killing

Prince Mohammed, 40, who turned away from the West after Khashoggi’s killing, is looking to re-establish his position as a global player and a leader determined to diversify the Saudi economy away from oil by investing in sectors such as mining, technology and tourism.

To that end, Saudi Arabia is expected to announce a multibillion-dollar investment in artificial intelligence infrastructure in the United States, and the two countries will work out details about new cooperation in the civilian nuclear energy sector, according to a senior Trump administration official, who was not authorized to comment publicly ahead of the official announcement.

“I think the challenge for us as Americans is trying to convince someone like Mohammed bin Salman that Saudi Arabia’s path should look more like South Korea than, say, China,” said Bernard Haykel, a professor of Near Eastern studies at Princeton University, speaking at a Carnegie Endowment for International Peace event on Monday. “At the end of the day, political repression of political opposition is not good for business. It’s not good for attracting foreign direct investment, and it’s not good for your image if you’re a tourist destination.”

But Trump’s warm embrace this week may provide a counter to that argument for the crown prince.

In addition to the White House pomp, the two countries are also planning an investment summit at the Kennedy Center on Wednesday that will include the heads of Salesforce, Qualcomm, Pfizer, Cleveland Clinic, Chevron and Aramco, Saudi Arabia’s national oil and natural gas company, where more deals with the Saudis could be announced.

AP Writer Josh Bok contributed to this report.