President Donald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) had a tense disagreement behind closed doors last week over Saudi Arabia’s relationship with Israel and the president’s desire for the country to join the Abraham Accords.
Trump had asked MBS to consider joining the peace deal, and the Saudi leader demanded that in return for a peace deal, he would consider it if Israel agreed to “an irreversible, credible and time-bound path” for a Palestinian state, Axios reported on Tuesday.
Israel has said it would oppose a Palestinian state.
The president was apparently upset by the prince’s response and had hoped he would agree to normalizing the relationship between Saudi Arabia and Israel, the report states.
“The best way to say it is disappointment and irritation. The president really wants them to join the Abraham Accords. He tried very hard to talk to him. It was an honest discussion. But MBS is a strong man. He stood his ground,” a source told Axios.
MBS made it clear after the meeting, publicly, that it was his position.
“MBS never said no to normalization. The door is open for doing it later. But the two-state solution is an issue,” a U.S. official told Axios.
The conversation was reportedly civil — but tough. Trump had expected to make more progress on the foreign policy, which was first signed in 2020, aimed to improve diplomatic ties between Israel and several other Arab nations in the region. Trump considered it a major diplomatic win in his first term.
“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,” a White House official told the outlet.
MBS told Trump that Saudis are not ready to normalize relations with Israel following the Gaza war, which has killed more than 67,000 people, according to Reuters. Nearly a third of those people were children.
“MBS explained to Trump that although he wants to move forward with normalization with Israel, he can’t do so now because Saudi public opinion is highly anti-Israel in the aftermath of the Gaza war. He said Saudi society isn’t ready for such a move now,” three sources told the outlet.
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