Secretary Of Defense Pete Hegseth Meets With Bahrain Prime Minister Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa

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Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth formally met with the Prime Minister of Bahrain Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa.

Transcript

00:00All right, well, Mr. Prime Minister, Your Royal Highness, welcome to the Pentagon.

00:05Thank you, sir.

00:06I appreciate having you here.

00:07Thank you for making the trip and your entire team for being here.

00:11We look forward to the discussion.

00:13We know front and center of the Kingdom of Bahrain has been a longstanding partner of

00:17the Department of Defense, host to our fifth fleet.

00:21Yes, sir.

00:21So many of our warfighters and their families, thousands, you've been gracious hosts to for

00:26quite some time.

00:27And we want to publicly, yet again, thank you for that.

00:31And just the, we know we can always count on Bahrain.

00:34And as evidenced by recent events, but also, you know, the courage you've shown for a long

00:39time, the original signer to the Abraham Accords, host of the combined maritime forces, you are

00:44committed to peace through strength, just like we are in that region.

00:48And I think we are at a moment of reckoning and a moment of opportunity because of a lot

00:53of the stances that you've been willing to take.

00:55I think our partners have been willing to take, and we're thankful for that.

00:59So we're eager to review how we can enhance self-defense capabilities, how we can work

01:03side to side, and our collective ability to take advantage of these opportunities right

01:07now.

01:07So plenty to work on, plenty to talk about, but all built on a foundation of strong cooperation

01:14for quite some time.

01:14And thank you for being here on behalf of our team, and look forward to a productive discussion.

01:19Thank you, Mr. Secretary, on behalf of myself and the team, and the kingdom of Bahrain, really.

01:24It's a pleasure to be here.

01:27We are no strangers to the Pentagon.

01:29We have been visiting in many different guises and many different representations.

01:34We've had soldiers, we've had diplomats, we've had many, many leaders come here.

01:41And we have worked alongside the U.S. Armed Forces very closely since – well, officially

01:47since 1948, but I'm sure there was much more cooperation even before that.

01:51The first relationship we ever had with the United States was a missionary relationship

01:58that came in 1893, from Minnesota.

02:03Absolutely.

02:04A Lutheran, I bet that.

02:05A new Church of America, wasn't it?

02:07A reformed Church of America.

02:08A reformed Church of America.

02:09A reformed Church of America.

02:11And they were doctors.

02:12And they healed not only the sick in Bahrain, but all over the Gulf, including many of the

02:17leaders who preceded us.

02:19So this is not a new relationship.

02:22The Kingdom of Bahrain – Bahrain at the time – signed the Trucial States Agreement

02:27in 1816.

02:28So we've been part of the rules-based international order since that time.

02:32And we have done our bit to protect it over many, many different conflicts.

02:37We will continue to deepen this relationship, and we are so proud of this strong cooperation.

02:45And I am all ears to hear how we can best help.

02:48And we will also be explaining some of our defense requirements and how we can work together

02:52to fill those needs.

02:54Absolutely.

02:54Well, thank you very much.

02:55Thank you, sir.

02:56Thank you very much.

02:57Thank you very much.

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03:16Thank you very much.

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