Donald Trump is set to deliver a major speech on Islam during his visit to Saudi Arabia, just two months after he signed revised orders to halt people from six Muslim-majority nations from entering the US.
During a lunch with up to 50 Muslim leaders in Riyadh on Sunday, Trump is expected to express his “hopes for a peaceful vision of Islam”, a day after Washington took issue with Iran.
It will be especially sensitive given tensions sparked by the Trump administration’s attempted travel ban.
During his campaign, Trump floated the idea of putting mosques in the US under surveillance while calling for a “total shutdown” of Muslims entering the US “until our country’s representatives can figure out what the hell is going on”.
His words shocked many Americans, with Trump’s detractors noting that the US Constitution prohibits religious discrimination.
“I think Islam hates us. There is a tremendous hatred there. We have to get to the bottom of it,” Trump said in a March 2016 interview with CNN.
Sunday’s address comes a day after the US and Saudi Arabia signed agreements worth more than $380bn – almost a third of that military-related.
“That was a tremendous day. Tremendous investments in the United States,” Trump said on Saturday at talks with Saudi King Salman.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson set the tone on Saturday when he urged Iran’s newly re-elected President Hassan Rouhani to dismantle his country’s “network of terrorism”.
Tillerson also said the new arms deals signed between Riyadh and Washington aim to help Saudi Arabia deal “with malign Iranian influence”.
