New US Secretary of State Pompeo starts Mideast tour in Riyadh

RIYADH – New US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in Saudi Arabia on Saturday on the first stop of his hastily-arranged visit to the Middle East as decisions on the Iran nuclear deal and a review of the US role in Syria loom large.

A State Department official said the visit to Riyadh, Jerusalem and Amman just two days after Pompeo was sworn-in as America's top diplomat was also aimed at forging closer ties with important US allies in the Middle East.

Pompeo said on Friday he would discuss the future of the 2015 Iran deal in his talks.