The U.S. and Israel are performing a miracle: they’re bring Sunni and Shia together in the Middle East. From Tyler Durden at zerohedge.com:
As widely expected, Saudi Arabia has put its US-backed plans to normalize ties with Israel on ice indefinitely, Reuters reported citing two sources, signalling a rapid reversal (and rethinking) of the Kingdom’s foreign policy priorities as war escalates between Israel and Hamas.
Meanwhile, as reported previously, the rapidly escalating war has also pushed the kingdom to engage with Israel’s sworn enemy, Iran: earlier this week, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman took his first phone call from Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi as Riyadh tries to prevent a broader surge in violence across the region.
Two sources told Reuters there would be a delay in the US-backed talks on normalization with Israel that was a key step for the kingdom to secure what Riyadh considers the real prize of a U.S. defense pact in exchange, although it may just as well settle for a higher oil price now that geopolitical risk premium has exploded higher.
As a reminder, until Hamas sparked a war on Oct. 7 by launching an attack on Israel, whether with or without Iran backing, both Israeli and Saudi leaders had been saying they were moving steadily towards a deal that could have reshaped the Middle East.
While Saudi Arabia – birthplace of Islam and home to its two holiest sites – had until the latest conflict indicated it would not allow its pursuit of a U.S. defense pact be derailed even if Israel did not offer significant concessions to the Palestinians in the their bid for statehood, sources had previously said. But an approach that sidelined Palestinians would risk angering Arabs around the region, as Arab news outlets broadcast images of Palestinians killed in Israeli retaliatory airstrikes.
