Donald Trump touches down in UK as Air Force One lands on way to Middle East
Donald Trump has landed in the UK with his plane refuelling at a US airbase as he heads to the Middle East for talks with trouble flaring in Gaza and Iran.
Flight restrictions around RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk already indicated the US president's Air Force One jet would land there late on Monday or early on Tuesday en route to an official visit to the Middle East.
Legislation published by the Government prohibits unauthorised flights in the area between 11pm on Monday and 4am on Tuesday.
This is 'for reasons of public safety and security during visits by a head of state', according to a statutory instrument. The same restrictions are in place between 5pm and 10pm on Friday, indicating Air Force One may refuel at RAF Mildenhall again.
It took under 26 minutes to refuel Trump's plane on a stopover at the site during a journey to Vietnam in February 2019 during his first term as president, US officials said. There are reports that Trump intends to accept a Boeing 747 plane as a gift from the Qatari royal family during his visit to the Middle East.
The plane would be converted to serve as Air Force One. Trump suggested last month that a date for September is being set for him to meet the King in Britain.
He told reporters in the White House he was 'invited by the King and the country'. Trump was feted with a grand state visit to Britain, hosted by the late Queen Elizabeth II, in June 2019 during his first presidency.
On his trip to the Middle East, Trump will visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, though his most pressing regional challenges concern two other countries: Israel and Iran.
After ending a ceasefire two months ago, Israel is intensifying the war in the Gaza Strip, where a blockade on food, medicine and other supplies is worsening a humanitarian crisis. And Iran, an enemy of Israel and a rival of Saudi Arabia, stands on the cusp of being able to develop nuclear weapons.
Yet Trump will focus his attention on three energy-rich nations home to existing or planned Trump-branded real estate projects — places where he aims to leverage American economic interests to do what he personally revels in: making business deals.
'This is his happy place,' said Jon B Alterman, a senior vice president at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. 'His hosts will be generous and hospitable. They'll be keen to make deals. They'll flatter him and not criticize him. And they'll treat his family members as past and future business partners.'
Trump won't be able to avoid diplomacy on Gaza or Iran. The Gulf countries hosting him are also interested in easing the regional tensions that emanate from these two places.
'Trump can easily score a win by reassuring them of America's strategic commitment to the region, demonstrating consistent messaging and generally rising above the fray,' analysts Elizabeth Dent and Simon Henderson of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy said.
By not scheduling a trip to Israel during his first trip to the region during his second term as president, Trump is reinforcing a feeling in Israel that its interests may not be top of mind for him. That sense intensified last week, when Trump announced that the U.S. would halt its strikes on the Houthis, an Iran-backed rebel group in Yemen that agreed to stop its attacks on American vessels in the Red Sea.
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