WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump will visit the Middle East next month on a three-country tour, his spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said on Tuesday.

It will be his second foreign trip since returning to office, following his planned attendance at the Vatican for Pope Francis`s funeral on Saturday.

Trump `will travel to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates from May 13 until May 16, Leavitt told a White House press briefing, without elaborating.

Saudi Arabia`s top diplomat held talks in Washington earlier this month to lay the groundwork for a visit by Trump in a reprisal of 2017, when the oil-rich, conservative kingdom was the first destination of his first term in office.

Saudi Arabia`s de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, promised in January to pile $600 billion into US trade and investments.

Tuesday`s announcement comes as the White House is pursuing nuclear talks with Iran while threatening military action if they fail to reach a deal.

In 2018, Trump withdrew the US from a landmark nuclear deal signed three years earlier.-AFP