Iran Press/ Middle East: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia wants to become the next Arab state to normalize relations with Israel, according to reports in Israeli media on Tuesday.
According to the report, the visiting representatives were also told by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the power behind the Saudi throne, that the kingdom had three main demands from Washington prior to joining the so-called Abraham Accords peace deal, including a formalized US-Saudi alliance; an equivalent amount of US weapons procurement to being in the NATO alliance; and approval of a small Saudi civil nuclear power program.
Saudi Arabia Betrayal to Palestinians
Notably, Saudi demands did not seem to include anything regarding Palestinian Arabs, for whom the Abraham Accords were ostensibly signed. At the time, many feared the imminent annexation of large parts of the Jordan Valley in the West Bank by Israel, whose military governs the Palestinian-majority area.
The Saudi demands come at a time when relations with Washington are at a nadir.
US President Joe Biden has criticized the Saudi war in Yemen, limiting US weapons sales to defense arms, and published declassified documents alleging bin Salman was involved in the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi, a dissident Turkish-Saudi journalist, in 2019. However, last month, the White House moved to give bin Salman immunity from prosecution for the murder.
Earlier this year, the Saudis joined other members of the OPEC in cutting petroleum production at a time when Washington was demanding it be increased in order to compensate for the Western boycott of Russian energy exports.
Other Arab states with normalized diplomatic relations with Israel include Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, Sudan, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, the last four of which did so in 2020 as part of the Abraham Accords.
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