The reputational cost of normalizing ties with Israel may be too high for Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Israel’s attack on Iran last month — and the ensuing 12-day war — as well as its continued assault on Gaza has cast Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a destabilizing, militaristic force who is deeply unpopular among Saudi Arabia’s leadership, the Financial Times reported.
Saudi Arabia agreed to make billions of dollars of investments in the US during President Donald Trump’s recent visit to the Gulf and has kept diplomatic channels open to maintain its détente with Iran. But while a deal with Israel would curry favor in Washington — Trump predicted more signatories to the Abraham Accords as recently as Sunday — the crown prince appears in no rush, analysts said.
“I think they are in a sufficiently comfortable geopolitical position not to have to succumb to doing something that they wouldn’t want to do,” a senior fellow for Middle East policy at the International Institute for Strategic Studies told the FT.
Meanwhile, on Thursday, Iran’s foreign minister said Tehran remained committed to a nuclear nonproliferation treaty, despite recently passing a law to suspend cooperation with the United Nations watchdog.