Crown Prince Salman meets President Obama

Against a backdrop of strained US-Bahrain relations, Crown Prince Salman Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa travelled to Washington in early June for a series of meetings with senior officials. The US has been supportive of the crown prince since the 2011 uprising, seeing him as the most amenable Al-Khalifa, and the most open to reform. Following his visit to Washington in May 2012, the US administration promised to resume arms sales to Bahrain, a move that was seen as an attempt to strengthen Salman’s position vis-à-vis the more hardline members of the ruling family. Relations with Manama have deteriorated since then, largely due to US criticism of human rights abuses and the slow pace of reform.