US Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to Saudi Arabia to meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) in Riyadh on Monday.
The two officials are expected to discuss a variety of topics, including the war in Gaza and how to put an end to the conflict in the region. The Middle East visit was announced by State Department spokesperson Matthew Millar in a statement.
The visit comes as United States President Joe Biden's administration is hoping to use a potentially historic peace deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia as leverage to get the Israeli government on board with its goals, including the creation of a political horizon for the Palestinian people.
The administration is linking normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia to the creation of a pathway for the establishment of a Palestinian state. However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be the one to ultimately decide on whether or not he would accept the potential compromise, as per Axios.
During the meeting on Monday, Blinken underscored the importance of addressing the humanitarian needs of the people in Gaza and preventing further spread of the fighting. Miller's statement did not directly refer to the potential normalization deal but noted that the secretary of state discussed with the crown prince the "importance of building a more integrated and prosperous region."
Blinken is also expected to visit Israel later this week and hold discussions regarding the normalization issue with the prime minister and the members of his war cabinet. During the secretary of state's last visit to the Middle Eastern nation last month, he told Israeli leaders that Saudi Arabia wanted to normalize relations after the Gaza war ended.
However, Saudi Arabia will not agree to any deal if the Israeli government does not commit to the principle of a two-state solution. Blinken also made it clear that Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries will not get involved in day-after solutions for Gaza without a path to a future Palestinian state.
Violence in the Middle East
The meeting between Blinken and MBS lasted roughly two hours and the former did not respond to shouted questions from reporters on how it went. He will also travel to Egypt, Qatar, and the Israeli-occupied West Bank, according to Reuters.
Blinken's Middle East trip is his fifth since the deadly Oct. 7 attack of the Hamas terrorist group on Israel that left thousands of people dead. It takes place during a time that senior US officials describe as one of the most dangerous for the region in decades.
The visit comes as the United States is also struggling to address continued Houthi rebel attacks on vessels in the Red Sea. Blinken's team also said that the launching of dozens of strikes on militia targets on Friday was a proportional response to the Jan. 28 killing of US service members in Jordan.
The American government has so far declined to strike targets inside Iran despite calls to do so by several Republican lawmakers in Congress. Such a move could potentially prompt even bolder attacks on US personnel in the region, said the Washington Post.
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