US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met on Sunday in Riyadh with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, who suspended his discussions on possible normalization with Israel in the midst of war with Palestinian Hamas.
The head of American diplomacy began a meeting with the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, shortly after 7:30 a.m. (4:30 a.m. GMT), an American official told AFP.
Antony Blinken has been touring the region since a commando from the Islamist movement in power in the Gaza Strip carried out an unprecedented attack in Israel on October 7, triggering a deadly war against the Palestinian territory.
The head of American diplomacy met for more than an hour with the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, in his royal residence near Riyadh, an American official told AFP.
The meeting was described as “very productive” by Antony Blinken upon his return to the hotel.
The violence left thousands dead on both sides.
Last month, Prince Mohammed bin Salman reported progress in US-sponsored talks on possible normalization with Israel, but a source close to the government said on Saturday that the talks had been suspended.
The Gulf kingdom, custodian of Islam’s first holiest sites, has never recognized Israel and has not joined the 2020 Abraham Accords, brokered by the United States, which allowed its neighbors, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, as well as Morocco, to establish official ties with Israel.
He has been pressed in recent months by the American administration to do the same, with Riyadh demanding in exchange security guarantees from Washington and assistance in developing a civil nuclear program.
After a solidarity visit to Israel on Thursday, the head of American diplomacy began a tour of six Arab countries aimed in particular at exerting pressure on Hamas in order to avoid the spillover of the conflict in the region.
After Jordan, Qatar, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, he is expected to visit Egypt, a key mediator between Israel and Hamas, on Sunday.
An American official told AFP on Saturday that Cairo had worked towards an agreement allowing American nationals to leave the Gaza Strip, but that they were prevented by Hamas from going to the only crossing point Rafah border.