The Saudi Crown Prince in Washington after a 7-year absence
US President Donald Trump has expressed hope that Saudi Arabia will join the Abraham Accords very soon that include normalization with Israel.
In press statements on Friday, while heading to his resort in Florida for the weekend, Trump said that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will visit Washington, next week.
He added that he was eagerly awaited to meet the Saudi crown prince.
He pointed to Saudi Arabia’s desire to buy F-35 fighter jets and more warplanes, noting that he is currently studying this request.
On the other hand, Trump said that he hopes that Saudi Arabia will join the Abraham Accords very soon, indicating that he will discuss this matter during his meeting with the kingdom’s crown prince in Washington.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will visit Washington on Monday after a seven-year absence, where he will push for security guarantees, while US President Donald Trump will urge him to normalize relations with Israel.
Saudi Arabia is unlikely to agree to normalization at this point, as MBS has prioritized tougher US security guarantees after Israeli strikes in September on Qatar, a staunch US ally, that shook the wealthy Gulf region.
The Saudi crown prince is making his first visit to the United States since the 2018 murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents, sparking global outrage and briefly strained relations between the two countries.
Prince Mohammed bin Salman has a friendly relationship with Trump, which was strengthened by the US president’s warm reception during a visit to the world’s largest oil exporter in May, which resulted in $600 billion in investment pledges.
The visit will last three days as of Monday, during which he will meet Saudi Crown Prince Trump on Tuesday, with little information however, which usually announced before the Saudi monarch’s foreign visits.
Prior to his arrival, Trump explicitly urged Saudi Arabia, the wide-eyed power in the Middle East, to normalize its relations with Israel by joining the Abraham Accords, a major White House prize that seems unlikely to be awarded by Riyadh in the wake of the war between Israel and Hamas.
“There are a lot of people who are joining the Abraham Accords, and we hope to get Saudi Arabia’s approval very soon,” Trump said at a business forum in Miami.
Initial steps toward normalizing relations in exchange for security and energy guarantees were suspended following Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and the subsequent devastating Israeli war in Gaza.
Riyadh doesn’t currently appear ready to move forward on this path, especially since its leading an international effort to establish a Palestinian state, which is its stated condition for normalizing relations.
The head of the negotiating team at the Saudi Foreign Ministry, Manal Radwan, stressed this month at the Manama Dialogue in Bahrain that a Palestinian state is a prerequisite for regional integration.
“We’ve said it many times but I don’t think it’s fully understood because we’re constantly getting this question”.
Instead, the Saudi crown prince will seek better US security guarantees.
Doha has been secured by an executive order signed by Trump pledging to defend Qatar against any attacks after the Israeli attack on Doha, a deal expert say other Gulf states are eager to snatch.
In addition to advanced air and missile defense systems, Riyadh is reportedly seeking to buy F-35 fighter jets, which Israel owns alone in the Middle East.
Saudi Arabia will also strive to acquire the high-tech chips it needs to support its AI ambitions, experts said.
As it embarks on ambitious tourism and leisure projects to diversify its oil-based economy, Riyadh has sought to calm regional tensions, including with its former arch-rival Iran.
Radwan stressed that the kingdom will continue to offer its good offices on Iran, adding that direct negotiations between Iran and the United States are necessary to resolve the nuclear issue.
Last May, as Trump’s first foreign tour since returning to office began, the mutual friendship between Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Donald Trump became apparent, with the US president highly praising his host.
This rapprochement has yielded tangible results, particularly with regard to Syria, whose long-ruled president was ousted last December after 14 years of civil war.
Trump said that it was the prince who persuaded him to lift sanctions on Syria after the fall of Bashar al Assad, and to hold a meeting in Riyadh with Ahmed al Sharaa, who has a jihadist past, who became Syria’s president.
Six months later, Trump received Syria’s transitional president, Ahmed al Sharaa, at the White House.
