Saudi Defense Minister meets secretly with Trump, see ‘eye-to-eye’ on Israel and Iran
Saudi Arabia’s Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman met with US President Donald Trump on Thursday in a secret meeting at the White House, which covered Iran de-escalation talks, a Gaza ceasefire, hostage release, and Israel normalization.
Khalid, the brother of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, focused on strategies to encourage Iran to come to the negotiating table following a 12-day war during which Israel and the US damaged the country’s nuclear facilities.
The meeting also covered ending the war in Gaza and securing the release of 50 hostages, alive and deceased.
The agenda also included discussions about normalization with Israel and what steps were necessary to allow Saudi Arabia and Israel to establish diplomatic ties.
Sources also said, “There was progress and optimism on all fronts.”
The Saudis and the United States are in the process of finalizing a defense and trade agreement, and sources report that the two sides “see eye-to-eye” on all issues.
During a Middle East trip in May, President Trump compromised on an earlier demand that the Saudis normalize relations with Israel as a condition for civil nuclear cooperation talks between the US and Saudi Arabia.
Republican senator Lindsey Graham criticized the move at the time on social media and emphasized the need to push for normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabi
“I have been working on and supportive of normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel for years. This historic agreement would effectively end the Arab-Israeli conflict and allow the region to march toward the light and away from darkness, building on the historic Abraham Accords,” Graham wrote on X.
He continued, “However, I would like to make it crystal clear that I will never support a defense agreement with Saudi Arabia or other elements of a proposed deal that does not include normalizing the relationship with Israel as a part of the package. Normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel is an essential element.”
