(New York) Saudi Arabia and Israel are “moving closer” to a historic normalization of their relations, the Saudi crown prince said on Wednesday, warning at the same time that his country would acquire nuclear weapons if Iran did the same.
“We are getting closer every day,” said Mohammed bin Salman, speaking of a normalization agreement with Israel in an interview with the Fox News channel, while American President Joe Biden met the Israeli Prime Minister in New York Benjamin Netanyahu.
“For us, the Palestinian question is very important. We have to resolve it,” he said, speaking in relaxed English and emphasizing that “negotiations were going well until now.”
He denied press reports reporting a “suspension” of discussions with Israel.
“We hope that they will lead to a result which will make life easier for the Palestinians and which will allow Israel to play a role in the Middle East,” added bin Salman, known as “MBS”, during this interview conducted in Saudi Arabia.
This possible normalization could involve security guarantees from the United States for the oil monarchy.
Asked about this subject, Mohammed bin Salman recalled that ties between Riyadh and Washington date back eight decades and that a possible security agreement between the two nations would “strengthen” their military and economic cooperation, without further details.
Israel has already normalized relations with five Arab countries: Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates.
But Iranian President Ebrahim Raïssi warned Wednesday evening in New York that possible normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia would constitute a betrayal of the Palestinian cause.
“We believe that a relationship between countries in the region and the Zionist regime would be a stab in the back of the Palestinian people and the Palestinian resistance,” Mr. Raïssi said at a press conference on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
“War with the rest of the world”
Asked also about the prospect of Iran acquiring nuclear weapons, the crown prince, who de facto heads the Saudi kingdom, warned that Arabia would then be forced to do the same.
“We are concerned that a country could acquire a nuclear weapon. This is a bad thing,” he said.
“They don’t need to get a nuclear weapon because they can’t use it.” According to him, this would amount to starting “a war with the rest of the world”.
But, he added, “if they get one, we should get one too.”
Iran denies wanting to obtain nuclear weapons, but its stocks of enriched uranium have exceeded the levels authorized by the 2015 nuclear agreement, concluded under Barack Obama and from which former President Donald Trump withdrew.
Joe Biden also mentioned Saudi Arabia during his meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu.
A successful rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Israel would have a profound impact in the Middle East, said the head of American diplomacy, Antony Blinken, on Wednesday in an interview with the ABC channel.
That would have a “powerful effect on stabilizing the region, on integrating the region, on bringing people together,” Blinken said.