Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told Fox News that Saudi Arabia is progressively getting closer to normalizing ties with Israel, potentially joining a group of other Gulf and North African nations.
In an interview with Fox News aired late Wednesday, the Crown Prince said that “every day, we get closer.”
The interview with bin Salman occurred as US President Joe Biden’s administration pushes ahead with efforts to broker historic connections between the two nations and their main Middle East allies, a development that has the potential to transform Middle East geopolitics.
The normalization talks are the centerpiece of a complicated dialogue that also includes prospective Israeli concessions to the Palestinians, and US security assurances and civilian nuclear assistance in which Riyadh has expressed interest.
Bin Salman said: “For us the Palestinian issue is very important, we need to solve that part… We hope that will reach a place that it will ease the life of the Palestinians, get Israel as a player in the Middle East.”
Bin Salman also made it clear that if Iran acquires a nuclear weapon, Saudi Arabia will also “have to get one… but we don’t want to see that.”
Tehran has denied developing a nuclear bomb, but it has long been subject to international scrutiny, especially since the signing of Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), otherwise known as The Iran Nuclear Deal, in 2015, and again when the US withdrew from this agreement in 2018.
Saudi Arabia has long been an opponent of Iran, as has Israel, but diplomatic relations between Riyadh and Tehran have improved since the two countries resumed diplomatic ties in March 2023.