Saudi Arabia has set a ground rule for US President Donald Trump and his entourage ahead of their visit to the kingdom in May: keep talk of normalisation with Israel off the agenda.
That was the message delivered by Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud during his visit to Washington DC last month to plan Trump’s visit to the kingdom and in follow-up discussions among senior officials, two Arab officials familiar with the talks told Middle East Eye.
While it’s common for diplomats to hash out the list of items to be discussed before a head of state’s visit, the Saudi request underscores the kingdom’s fear that Trump’s shoot-from-the-hip style could create an awkward moment on camera for Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The crown prince has publicly accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, tapping into his people’s anger over Israel’s assault on the enclave, where over 52,000 people have been killed, mostly women and children, according to Palestinian officials.
“Saudi Arabia is serious not to be tricked into anything that regards Israel during the upcoming visit. It was made clear in DC,” one Arab official told local media.
Prince Farhan met US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the State Department on 9 April. The meeting was public, but Saudi Arabia setting out ground rules to dissuade discussions on normalisation ahead of Trump’s visit has not been previously reported.
The Saudi embassy in Washington did not respond to MEE’s request for comment.
State Department ‘sidelined’
A second Arab official told MEE that Farhan left the meeting sensing a state of ineffectiveness at the US State Department.
Farhan told officials afterwards that Rubio and his department had been completely “sidelined” from decision-making by Trump.
On Thursday, Rubio was appointed “interim” national security advisor, while retaining his role as top diplomat, following Trump’s ousting of Mike Waltz. Both Rubio and Waltz have been targeted by “America First” Trump loyalists.
The State Department and White House did not respond to MEE’s request for comment.
Trump has publicly backed Israel’s decision to pull out of a January ceasefire and return to war in Gaza.
However, ahead of his visit to the Gulf, he has altered his tone somewhat.
“We’ve got to be good to Gaza … These people are suffering,” Trump said he told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week.
On Thursday, State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said, “we want aid to resume” when asked about Gaza.
No ‘surprises’
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Trump enjoyed close ties during the US leader’s first term in office. They didn’t appear to struggle being on the same page.
The crown prince enjoyed a familial line to Trump that made career diplomats accustomed to shuttling between leaders jealous. He was on a first name basis with Trump’s son-in-law and former advisor Jared Kushner, whom he regularly texted. This time around, Steve Witkoff has emerged as Trump’s go-to envoy.
Saudi Arabia was the first country Trump visited as president in 2017.
The two Arab officials told local media that the risks for Saudi Arabia were higher on this trip, given Israel’s war on Gaza. Riyadh feels the need to carefully manage the itinerary down to the technical level, the officials said.
“There will be no surprises or unexpected requests in public or private,” the second Arab official told MEE.
Saudi Arabia has sought to manage Trump’s visit by focusing on three files, the sources said: military deals, the Iranian nuclear programme, and the economy.
Reuters reported in April that the Trump administration was weighing a $100bn arms sale to Saudi Arabia that includes talks over Riyadh acquiring F-35 warplanes.
Trump said he agreed to visit Saudi Arabia for his first trip abroad after the crown prince pledged to invest $600bn in the US over the next four years.
Trump has used previous meetings with world leaders to shock and awe his counterparts and onlookers.
In February, he and Vice President JD Vance gave Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a public browbeating. Then, in an April meeting alongside Netanyahu, Trump announced nuclear talks with Iran and praised Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The Abraham Accords
During meetings with the press, Trump has often pondered how easy it would be to expand the Abraham Accords.
In a February meeting alongside Netanyahu, Trump directly contradicted Saudi Arabia’s public policy when he said Riyadh was not demanding a Palestinian state in exchange for normalising ties with Israel. “Everyone is demanding one thing – peace,” Trump said.
Trump struck the same vein in an interview with Time Magazine conducted on 22 April, saying, “I think Saudi Arabia will go into the Abraham Accords.”
Trump considers the 2020 Abraham Accords – by which Israel established diplomatic relations with the UAE, Bahrain and Morocco – one of his signature foreign policy achievements.
The former Biden administration turned to expanding the Abraham Accords as a way to revitalise ties with Riyadh after Biden vowed to turn Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman into a “pariah” over the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Isolating the kingdom backfired on Biden after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine drove energy prices higher and nuclear talks with Iran ebbed.
The US tried to strike an agreement where Saudi Arabia would normalise ties with Israel in exchange for US security guarantees, expedited arms sales and assistance with its civilian nuclear programme.
Throughout 2023, a steady drumbeat of media leaks suggested that the US and Saudi were on the cusp of a major deal.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham – who became an intermediary between Riyadh and the Biden administration – even said that if Saudi Arabia did not normalise ties with Israel in 2023 or early 2024, “the window may close” forever. He did not explain why.
Analysts and some Arab officials say one motivation for the Hamas-led 7 October 2023 attacks on southern Israel was to derail a normalisation agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia, putting the Palestinians back on the Arab agenda.
During an International Court of Justice hearing on Tuesday, Mohamed Saud Alnasser, who is the director of legal affairs at the Saudi foreign ministry, accused Israel of “hideous conduct” in Gaza and laying a “ruthless” siege on the enclave.
