Blinken, Saudi FM discuss Iranian nuclear threat in call

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke on Monday with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud amid heightened tensions with Iran.

“The Secretary and the Foreign Minister discussed the challenge posed by Iran’s nuclear program and its destabilizing behavior in the region, and opportunities for greater cooperation on regional issues,” the State Department reported in a statement following the conversation.

According to a readout of the call, Blinken thanked his peer for the efforts to strengthen and extend the truce in Yemen, “and they discussed efforts to avert the economic, environmental, and humanitarian threats posed by the Safer oil tanker in the Red Sea region.

“The Secretary underscored the importance of international support for Ukraine as it defends its sovereignty and territorial integrity and emphasized the need for a global response to the food security crisis resulting from President Putin’s brutal war,” the statement reads.

Biden prepares for Middle East visit

The call between the two comes on the heels of Biden’s decision to retain Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp on its foreign terror list, a move that had been understood to be a stumbling block in reviving the 2015 Iranian deal, and as the President expected to visit the region in the upcoming weeks.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud deliver remarks to reporters before meeting at the State Department in Washington, US, October 14, 2021. (credit: REUTERS/JONATHAN ERNST)

No date has been set for Biden’s visit, but it is widely believed that it would take place at the end of June and could possibly include a Biden trip to Saudi Arabia.

Biden has yet to visit the region since taking office in January 2021.

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid told Army Radio on Monday that there was talk that Biden would arrive at the end of the month, but that “the last details had be finalized.”

Speculation has been high that the Biden plans for a joint Israel-Saudi trip, are connected to a potential announcement about the advancement of Israel-Saudi ties.

“It is not like we will wake up one morning and there will be a surprise” announcement about Israeli-Saudi peace, Lapid told Army Radio.

“There will be a long slow and cautious process, Lapid said. He acknowledged that Israel was working with the US, Egypt and other Gulf partners on normalized relations with the Saudis.

It is in Israel’s interest to normalize these ties, Lapid said. It’s possible that this might not happen under this government or even the next but, three foreign ministers from now, he said.

To push matters along, the US is eying a possible deal involving the islands of Tiran and Sanafir on the edge of the Gulf of Aqaba, otherwise known as the Strait of Tehran that could lower oil prices in the US and push forward the normalization of ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

The story about such a deal was first reported last week by Walla News.

Egypt, which has had possession of the islands, has already agreed to transfer them to Saudi Arabia, but both Israel and the United States have to sign off on the deal.

Israel captured the islands from Egypt during the Six-Day War and they were part of the territory ceded to Egypt in its 1979 peace deal, in exchange for an international peacekeeping force backed by the US.

US-Saudi relations

Two top US envoys Amos Hochstein and Brett McGurk visited Saudi Arabia last week. That trip came a week after Deputy Minister of Defense Prince Khalid bin Salman was in Washington where he met with US national security adviser Jake Sullivan, McGurk and US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.

Israel’s Defense Minister Benny Gantz was in Washington at the same time, where he also met with Austin.

Blinken in the last few days has spoken with Lapid and the Saudi and Egyptian foreign ministers.

Biden has until now avoided meeting with Muhammad Bin Salman, the Saudi Crown Price. Shortly after taking office, the Biden Administration released a US intelligence report which found that Bin Salman was responsible for approving an operation that killed Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

However in recent months, as gas prices reached an all-time high, the administration reached out to the kingdom, asked that it would boost oil production. The Saudis, according to media reports, refused.