The White House and Pentagon are debating the next stage of war against the group.
The job is the first new senior executive office created at the international body in decades.
The statement suggests that the Saudis may have provoked a crisis and has drawn in the U.S. on false pretenses.
Elements of the normalization begun by Obama in December 2014 that are popular with younger Cuban Americans and others will not be affected.
The new policy prohibits any commercial dealings with Cuba’s military and somewhat limits U.S. citizens’ travel to the island, but leaves in place much of the old policy.
The administration is eager to differentiate itself from Obama’s strategy of opening diplomatic relations, but may not bring wholesale change.
The back-channel diplomacy that freed Otto Warmbier could be a significant opening.
The secretary of state had called on a Saudi-led bloc of Arab nations to ease their blockade on Qatar.
People who express support for Qatar could face a prison term and fine.
The meeting with Sergei Lavrov will be the first face-to-face contact the president has had with a senior official of the Russian government.
