White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan plans to travel to Saudi Arabia this week for talks with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman amid a U.S. push for progress toward normalizing relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Reuters/Kevin Lamarque
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan plans to travel to Saudi Arabia this week for talks with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman amid a U.S. push for progress toward normalizing relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Talks on normalization had been put on ice in the immediate aftermath of the Oct. 7 attack by Palestinian Hamas fighters on southern Israel and Israel's subsequent assault on Hamas-ruled Gaza, but conversations have resumed in recent months.
A U.S. official said Sullivan planned talks with the crown prince to check in on the issue but did not expect a major breakthrough.
A second U.S. official said Sullivan would consult broadly on a number of matters.
"He has not been to Saudi Arabia in some time and there’s lots to discuss," the second official said.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on March 21 that the United States and Saudi Arabia had made "good progress" in talks on normalizing ties between the kingdom and Israel, without providing a timeline for concluding a deal.
As part of a normalization deal, Saudi Arabia wants to clinch a mutual defense pact with Washington and get U.S. support for its civil nuclear program.
By Steve Holland
In a striking political declaration, Fahad Al Masri, President of the National Salvation Front in Syria, has issued a bold call for a strategic alliance between post-Assad Syria, the United States and Israel, a move that would represent a seismic shift in the region's diplomatic landscape.
Hezbollah rejected a ceasefire plan agreed by the Lebanese and Israeli governments in U.S.-mediated talks, as Israel kept up strikes in southern Lebanon on Thursday and said it wouldn't be withdrawing from the south.
Israel and Lebanon agreed to implement a new ceasefire after U.S.-mediated talks, the Trump administration said, raising hopes for progress toward ending the wider U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.
To make this website run properly and to improve your experience, we use cookies. For more detailed information, please check our Cookie Policy.
Necessary cookies enable core functionality. The website cannot function properly without these cookies, and can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.