Axios reported that Trump pushed Saudi Arabia to join the Abraham Accords, but MBS resisted, saying the kingdom cannot move forward while public anger over Gaza remains high.
Former US President Donald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman held a tense discussion last week over the possibility of Saudi Arabia joining the Abraham Accords and normalizing relations with Israel, the US-based Axios news outlet reported, citing two US officials and a source with direct knowledge of the meeting.
According to Axios, Trump entered the November 18 meeting expecting movement on the normalization file. White House officials reportedly informed MBS ahead of time that Trump “expected progress” toward Saudi-Israeli normalization.
Axios quoted US officials saying that Trump raised the issue directly and “pressed hard” for Saudi Arabia to join the Abraham Accords, which normalized relations between Israel and several Arab states during Trump’s first term in office.
At that point, the exchange became tense, the sources told Axios.
MBS reportedly pushed back, telling Trump that although he is still interested in normalization with Israel, the timing is not possible due to Saudi public sentiment in the aftermath of the Gaza war.
According to Axios, MBS told Trump that Saudi society is currently “highly anti-Israel” and that the kingdom could not move forward now. One US official told the outlet that the conversation remained civil but was “tough.”
One source briefed on the meeting described Trump’s reaction as “disappointment and irritation,” adding: “The president really wants them to join the Abraham Accord. He tried very hard to talk him. It was an honest discussion. But MBS is a strong man. He stood his ground.”
Axios reported that MBS conditioned any future normalization on Israel agreeing to what he called “an irreversible, credible and time-bound path” toward a Palestinian state. The Saudi leader repeated this condition publicly after the meeting.
A US official reportedly told Axios: “MBS never said no to normalization. The door is open for doing it later. But the two-state solution is an issue.”
‘End Gaza War’ – Saudi Arabia Urges ‘Comprehensive Solution to Palestinian Issue’
During public remarks following the meeting, Trump said he intended to supply Saudi Arabia with the same model of F-35 fighter jets currently used by Israel. But Axios cited US and Israeli officials saying that Secretary of State Marco Rubio later assured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that this would not happen, and that any Saudi aircraft would be a downgraded version to protect Israel’s military advantage.
“We told the Israelis we are committed to the QME, and we are not going to violate it,” a senior US official reportedly told Axios, referring to Israel’s legally guaranteed Qualitative Military Edge.
Axios also reported that Trump did not raise the ongoing lawsuit filed by families of 9/11 victims against Saudi Arabia, after a US judge recently allowed the case to proceed.
A White House official told Axios that Trump’s vision is to expand regional normalization, claiming: “Now that Iran’s nuclear program has been totally obliterated and the war in Gaza has ended, it is very important to President Trump that all Middle Eastern countries join the Abraham Accords, which will advance peace in the region.”
Iranian officials denied that the nuclear program had been wiped out, and a report in The Washington Post last June noted that “only one of Iran’s three principal nuclear facilities was destroyed in US strikes,” adding “we definitely can’t say it was obliterated.”
The Saudi embassy did not respond to Axios’ request for comment.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
trump MUST be insain!!! —- IF he thinks ANY Muslim majority Nation can survive if it rewards israel for the GAZA GENOCIDE, now or any time in the future!!…DO you reward a Criminal illegal rogue failed entity for the MASS-MURDER day after day of thousands of TOTALLY INNOCENT UNARMED poor, trapped and oppressed for decades HUMAN BEINGS?…DO you actually reward THIS when it continues for 2 YEARS!! ,and is further expanded with forced purposeful starvation of babies, children, adults and elderly who are sick or injured to begin with?…As for israel having ANY military advantage, I hope this soon ENDS!!! — the zionist entity deserves NO SECURITY at all, NOT for a single instant!!!
I’m surprised he still hasn’t killed Bibi.