United States presidential visits to the Middle East
# United States presidential visits to the Middle East

Ten United States presidents have made presidential visits to the Middle East. The first trips by an incumbent president to countries in (or partly within) the Middle East were those by Franklin D. Roosevelt, and were an offshoot of Allied diplomatic interactions during World War II. To date, 16 visits have been made to Egypt, 12 to Saudi Arabia, 11 to Israel, six to both Iraq, Jordan and Turkey, four to Iran, three to the Palestinian Territories, two to both Kuwait and Syria, one to Bahrain, Georgia, Oman, Qatar, and to the United Arab Emirates. No incumbent American president has yet visited Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Lebanon, and Yemen.

## Table of visits

| President | Dates | Countries | Locations | Key details |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Franklin D. Roosevelt | November 22–26, 1943 | Egypt | Cairo | Attended First Cairo Conference with British Prime Minister Churchill and Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek. |
| Franklin D. Roosevelt | November 27 – December 2, 1943 | Iran | Tehran | Attended Tehran Conference with Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. |
| Franklin D. Roosevelt | December 2–7, 1943 | Egypt | Cairo | Attended Second Cairo Conference with British Prime Minister Churchill and Turkish President İsmet İnönü. |
| Franklin D. Roosevelt | February 13–15, 1945 | Egypt | Great Bitter Lake, Suez Canal, Alexandria | Met with King Farouk, Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie, Saudi Arabian King Ibn Saud, and British Prime Minister Churchill. |
| Dwight D. Eisenhower | December 6–7, 1959 | Turkey | Ankara | Informal Visit. Met with President Celâl Bayar. |
| Dwight D. Eisenhower | December 14, 1959 | Iran | Tehran | Met with Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Addressed Parliament. |
| Richard Nixon | May 30–31, 1972 | Iran | Tehran | Official Visit. Met with Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. |
| Richard Nixon | June 12–14, 1974 | Egypt | Cairo, Alexandria | Met with President Anwar Sadat. |
| Richard Nixon | June 14–15, 1974 | Saudi Arabia | Jeddah | Met with King Faisal. |
| Richard Nixon | June 15–16, 1974 | Syria | Damascus | Met with President Hafez al-Assad. |
| Richard Nixon | June 16–17, 1974 | Israel | Tel Aviv, Jerusalem | Met with President Ephraim Katzir and Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. |
| Richard Nixon | June 17–18, 1974 | Jordan | Amman | State Visit. Met with King Hussein. |
| Jimmy Carter | December 31, 1977 – January 1, 1978 | Iran | Tehran | Official Visit. Met with Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and King Hussein of Jordan. |
| Jimmy Carter | January 3–4, 1978 | Saudi Arabia | Riyadh | Met with King Khalid and Crown Prince Fahd. |
| Jimmy Carter | January 4, 1978 | Egypt | Aswan | Met with President Sadat and German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt. |
| Jimmy Carter | March 7–9, 1979 | Egypt | Cairo, Alexandria, Giza | State visit; met with President Sadat and addressed the People's Assembly. |
| Jimmy Carter | March 10–13, 1979 | Israel | Tel Aviv, Jerusalem | State Visit. Met with President Yitzhak Navon and Prime Minister Menachem Begin. Addressed the Knesset. |
| Jimmy Carter | March 13, 1979 | Egypt | Cairo | Met with President Sadat. |
| George H. W. Bush | November 21–22, 1990 | Saudi Arabia | Jeddah, Dhahran | Met with King Fahd and the Amir of Kuwait. Addressed U.S. and British military personnel in eastern Saudi Arabia. |
| George H. W. Bush | November 22–23, 1990 | Egypt | Cairo | Discussed the Persian Gulf crisis with President Hosni Mubarak. |
| George H. W. Bush | July 20–22, 1991 | Turkey | Ankara, Istanbul | Met with President Turgut Ozal. |
| George H. W. Bush | December 31, 1992 | Saudi Arabia | Riyadh | Met with King Fahd. |
| Bill Clinton | October 25–26, 1994 | Egypt | Cairo | Met with President Hosni Mubarak and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat. |
| Bill Clinton | October 26–27, 1994 | Jordan | Aqaba, Wadi Arava, Amman | Attended the signing of the Israel-Jordan peace agreement. Addressed the Jordanian Parliament. |
| Bill Clinton | October 27, 1994 | Syria | Damascus | Met with President Hafez al-Assad. |
| Bill Clinton | October 27–28, 1994 | Israel | Jerusalem | Met with senior Israeli officials. Addressed the Knesset. |
| Bill Clinton | October 28, 1994 | Kuwait | Kuwait City | Met with Emir Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah. Addressed U.S. military personnel. |
| Bill Clinton | October 28, 1994 | Saudi Arabia | King Khalid Military City | Met with King Fahd. |
| Bill Clinton | November 5–6, 1995 | Israel | Jerusalem | Attended the funeral of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. |
| Bill Clinton | March 13, 1996 | Egypt | Sharm el-Sheikh | Attended the Summit of the Peacemakers. |
| Bill Clinton | March 13–14, 1996 | Israel | Jerusalem, Tel Aviv | Discussed cooperation against terrorism with senior Israeli officials. |
| Bill Clinton | December 12–15, 1998 | Israel | Jerusalem, Masada | Met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior Israeli officials. |
| Bill Clinton | December 14–15, 1998 | Palestinian National Authority | Gaza, Bethlehem, Erez | Addressed Palestine National Council. Attended a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Chairman Yasser Arafat. |
| Bill Clinton | February 8, 1999 | Jordan | Amman | Attended the funeral of King Hussein. |
| Bill Clinton | November 15–19, 1999 | Turkey | Ankara, İzmit, Ephesus, Istanbul | State Visit. Attended Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Summit meeting. |
| Bill Clinton | March 25, 2000 | Oman | Muscat | Met with Sultan Qaboos bin Said. |
| Bill Clinton | August 29, 2000 | Egypt | Cairo | Briefed President Hosni Mubarak on the Middle East Peace Process. |
| Bill Clinton | October 16–17, 2000 | Egypt | Sharm el-Sheikh | Attended the Israeli-Palestinian Summit Meeting. |
| George W. Bush | June 2–3, 2003 | Egypt | Sharm el-Sheikh | Attended "Red Sea Summit" with the leaders of Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia, and with Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas. |
| George W. Bush | June 4, 2003 | Jordan | Aqaba | Attended meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas. Met with King Abdullah II. |
| George W. Bush | June 4–5, 2003 | Qatar | Doha | Met with Emir Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani. Visited U.S. Central Command headquarters and addressed U.S. military personnel. |
| George W. Bush | November 27, 2003 | Iraq | Baghdad | Met with members of the Coalition Provisional Authority and the Iraqi Governing Council. Addressed U.S. military personnel. |
| George W. Bush | June 26–29, 2004 | Turkey | Ankara, Istanbul | Met with President Ahmet Necdet Sezer and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Attended the NATO Summit meeting. |
| George W. Bush | May 9–10, 2005 | Georgia | Tbilisi | Met with President Mikheil Saakashvili. |
| George W. Bush | June 13, 2006 | Iraq | Baghdad | Met with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Addressed U.S. military personnel. |
| George W. Bush | November 29–30, 2006 | Jordan | Amman | Met with King Abdullah II and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. |
| George W. Bush | September 3, 2007 | Iraq | Al Asad Airbase | Met with Gen. David Petraeus, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, senior U.S. officials, Iraqi political leaders. Addressed U.S military personnel. |
| George W. Bush | January 9–11, 2008 | Israel | Tel Aviv, Jerusalem | Met with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and President Shimon Peres. Visited Yad Vashem. |
| George W. Bush | January 10, 2008 | Palestinian National Authority | Ramallah, Bethlehem | Met with President Mahmoud Abbas. Visited the Church of the Nativity. |
| George W. Bush | January 11–12, 2008 | Kuwait | Kuwait City, Camp Arifjan | Attended Roundtable on Democracy and Development. Met with Gen. David Petraeus and United States Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker. Addressed U.S. military personnel. |
| George W. Bush | January 12–13, 2008 | Bahrain | Manama | Met with King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa. Addressed U.S. military personnel. |
| George W. Bush | January 13–14, 2008 | United Arab Emirates | Abu Dhabi, Dubai | Met with President Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. |
| George W. Bush | January 14–16, 2008 | Saudi Arabia | Riyadh, Al-Janadriyah | Met with King Abdullah. |
| George W. Bush | January 16, 2008 | Egypt | Sharm el-Sheikh | Met with President Hosni Mubarak. |
| George W. Bush | May 14–16, 2008 | Israel | Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Masada | Met with President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Addressed the Knesset. Attended Israel's 60th anniversary. Visited the Masada fortification site. |
| George W. Bush | May 16–17, 2008 | Saudi Arabia | Riyadh, al-Janadriyah | Met with King Abdullah. |
| George W. Bush | May 17–18, 2008 | Egypt | Sharm el-Sheikh | Met with President Hosni Mubarak, King Abdullah II of Jordan, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani. Addressed the World Economic Forum. |
| George W. Bush | December 14, 2008 | Iraq | Baghdad | Met with President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Signed Strategic Framework and Security Agreements. Visited U.S. military personnel. |
| Barack Obama | April 5–7, 2009 | Turkey | Ankara, Istanbul | Met with President Abdullah Gül and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Delivered a speech to the Turkish Parliament. Laid a wreath at Anitkabir Mausoleum, Also met with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople of the Eastern Orthodox Church, attended the Alliance of Civilizations forum, and participated in a town hall meeting with students at the Tophane Cultural Center. |
| Barack Obama | April 7–8, 2009 | Iraq | Baghdad | Met with President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Visited with U.S. troops. |
| Barack Obama | June 3–4, 2009 | Saudi Arabia | Riyadh | Met with King Abdullah. |
| Barack Obama | June 4, 2009 | Egypt | Cairo | Met with President Hosni Mubarak. Toured the Giza Pyramids. Delivered a speech at Cairo University. |
| Barack Obama | March 20–22, 2013 | Israel | Tel Aviv, Jerusalem | Met with President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Visited the Shrine of the Book and Yad Vashem, and spoke to students at the International Convention Center. |
| Barack Obama | March 21–22, 2013 | Palestinian National Authority | Ramallah, Al-Bireh, Bethlehem | Met with President Mahmoud Abbas. Visited the Church of the Nativity. |
| Barack Obama | March 22–23, 2013 | Jordan | Amman, Petra | Met with King Abdullah II. |
| Barack Obama | March 28, 2014 | Saudi Arabia | Riyadh | Met with King Abdullah. |
| Barack Obama | January 27, 2015 | Saudi Arabia | Riyadh | Met with the newly appointed King Salman. Also paid respects to the late King Abdullah. |
| Barack Obama | November 14–17, 2015 | Turkey | Antalya | Attended the G-20 Summit Meeting. also met with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, King Salman of Saudi Arabia and Russian President Vladimir Putin. |
| Barack Obama | April 20–21, 2016 | Saudi Arabia | Riyadh | Official visit. Met with King Salman. Attended a summit meeting with the Gulf Cooperation Council. |
| Barack Obama | September 30, 2016 | Israel | Jerusalem | Attended the state funeral of former President Shimon Peres. |
| Donald Trump | May 20–22, 2017 | Saudi Arabia | Riyadh | Met with King Salman. Participated in the 2017 Riyadh Summit |
| Donald Trump | May 22–23, 2017 | Israel | Jerusalem | Met with President Reuven Rivlin and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. |
| Donald Trump | May 23, 2017 | Palestinian National Authority | Bethlehem | Met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. |
| Donald Trump | December 26, 2018 | Iraq | Al Asad Air Base | Visited with U.S military personnel serving in Western Iraq. |
| Joe Biden | July 13–15, 2022 | Israel | Jerusalem | Met with President Isaac Herzog and Prime Minister Yair Lapid. |
| Joe Biden | July 15, 2022 | Palestinian National Authority | Bethlehem | Met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. |
| Joe Biden | July 15–16, 2022 | Saudi Arabia | Jeddah | Met with King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Participated in the GCC+3 Summit. |

### Visits by former presidents

* Ulysses S. Grant visited Alexandria, Egypt, met with Khedive Isma'il Pasha, sailed up the Nile to tour the Valley of the Kings, and travelled by train down the length of the Suez Canal in 1878, during a post-presidency world tour. During the same tour, he visited Jerusalem.
* Richard Nixon (without official State Department credentials) attended the funeral of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, former Shah of Iran, in Cairo, Egypt, March 8, 1980.
* Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter were among the dignitaries representing the United States at the funeral of Egyptian President Sadat in Cairo, October 10, 1981.
* Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and George H. W. Bush attended the state funeral of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman, February 8, 1999.
* Bill Clinton attended the state funeral of former Israeli President Shimon Peres in Jerusalem, September 30, 2016.
