But Saudi rulers had previously expressed deep private anger over President Barack Obama's approach to Iran, seen by the Kingdom as a major regional foe, and at de-facto cooperation between the US and Iran in the fight against Isis in Iraq.
They also fear the ending of economic sanctions against Iran in exchange for limits on that nation's nuclear program, thus creating a wealthier Iran that could be a more formidable regional foe.
Faced with evidence, Saudi officials have offered strenuous denials and deflection; this, they say, was a conspiracy led by regional foe Qatar, supported by its allies in Ankara.
The appointments signal a tougher foreign policy, particularly towards regional foe Iran, but little change to a firm hand against dissent at home, where Riyadh this week said it had detained 93 suspected Islamic State militants.
Syria under the Assads has had no other regional foe and has fought three wars against Israel.
Sure, Trump did offer up the sort of harsh language on Iran Israelel's regional foe — that Netanyahu wanted to hear.
He charged that Egypt's regional foe Qatar and its ruler, Emir Tamim bin Hamad al Thani, were the ones guilty of collaborating with Israel.
Both countries have encouraged an extraordinary outpouring of sectarian incitement against the Shiites of the Arab world in a bid to retain absolute power and to undermine what they regard as their most formidable regional foe: Shiite Iran.
The P.U.K., in its fight with the Kurdish Democratic Party (K.D.P ., had lately allied itself with Iran, Iraq's primary regional foe, and had K.D.P. had invited Hussein to send Iraqi armed forces into the region.
11.47am BST Turkey and Iran hold surprise talks Intriguing: Syria's main regional foe has held surprise talks with its main ally The Turkish daily Zamam reports: Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in a surprise move, met with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on the sidelines the 12th Summit of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) in Azerbaijan on Tuesday.
He added: "The small puppet countries in the region are backed by America, and the US is provoking them and giving them the necessary capabilities". Mr Rouhani did not specify which "puppet" countries he was referring to - but his comments are widely thought to be directed at Iran's regional foe Saudi Arabia, and the UAE and Bahrain.
