The issue focused on trade in food and other commodities between Saudi Arabia and the US state of Maryland while the president and the secretary of state discussed the federal lawsuit against the Wall Street banks for allegedly fraudulently laundering money for Iran and the Assad regime in Syria.


The US claims the banks and other financial institutions knowingly broke laws that allowed money to go into the bank accounts of Iran and the Syrian regime. These allegations are now at the heart of a legal case which the US government filed against the financial institutions