Covert Israeli-Saudi meeting sends Biden a strong message on Iran
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Wednesday
February 08, 2023

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 08, 2023
Covert Israeli-Saudi meeting sends Biden a strong message on Iran

Analysis

Reuters
28 November, 2020, 08:50 am
Last modified: 28 November, 2020, 12:55 pm

Related News

  • Blinken Mideast visit highlights US limitations in region
  • Israel appears to have been behind drone strike on Iranian factory - US official
  • US slaps sanctions on Iran officials over protest crackdown
  • Iran says 9 face death over nuclear scientist's assassination
  • US to work with Israel, and support two state solution: Blinken

Covert Israeli-Saudi meeting sends Biden a strong message on Iran

It was the first publicly confirmed visit to Saudi Arabia by an Israeli leader and a meeting that was unthinkable until recently as the two countries do not have formal diplomatic relations

Reuters
28 November, 2020, 08:50 am
Last modified: 28 November, 2020, 12:55 pm
A combination picture shows Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman in Osaka, Japan June 29, 2019 and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem February 9, 2020. Sputnik/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin via REUTERS
A combination picture shows Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman in Osaka, Japan June 29, 2019 and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem February 9, 2020. Sputnik/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin via REUTERS

A historic meeting between Israel's prime minister and Saudi Arabia's crown prince has sent a strong signal to allies and enemies alike that the two countries remain deeply committed to containing their common foe Iran.

Last Sunday's covert meeting in the Saudi city of Neom, confirmed by Israeli officials but publicly denied by Riyadh, conveyed a coordinated message to US President-elect Joe Biden that Washington's main allies in the region are closing ranks.

It was the first publicly confirmed visit to Saudi Arabia by an Israeli leader and a meeting that was unthinkable until recently as the two countries do not have formal diplomatic relations. But it underlines the depth of the two countries' concerns about Iran, and shows how opposition to Tehran is bringing about a strategic realignment of countries in the Middle East.

"It's Iran, Iran, Iran," Israeli cabinet minister Tzachi Hanegbi told Israel's Army Radio when asked about the visit. "It is very, very important to create the axis which isolates Iran."

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom's de facto ruler, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu both enjoyed strong support from US President Donald Trump and championed his "maximum pressure" campaign against Iran.

They fear Biden will adopt policies on Iran similar to those adopted during Barak Obama's US presidency which strained Washington's ties with its traditional regional allies.

Biden has said he will rejoin the international nuclear pact with Iran that Trump quit in 2018 - and work with allies to strengthen its terms - if Tehran first resumes strict compliance.

Both Israel and Saudi Arabia have recently ramped up rhetoric against Iran, which is locked in several proxy wars with Riyadh in the region.

Iran has built a network of armed Shi'ite militias across the Arab world, from Iraq to Syria and Lebanon and down into the Gulf and Yemen. Tehran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen attacked Saudi oil installations last week, the latest in a string of attacks on Saudi targets.

Israel is waging a shadow war against Iranian forces, mostly through regular air raids in Syria on Lebanese Shi'ite paramilitary group Hezbollah, on Iran's Revolutionary Guard, and on supplies of weapons as they are moved across the country.

Saudi King Not Informed

Sunday's meeting was held in the presence of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Israel's spy chief, Israeli media said.

Pompeo, who has been trying to coax Saudi Arabia to follow the lead of the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan in normalising ties with Israel, declined to confirm the meeting. But diplomats in the region said US envoys had privately confirmed the meeting took place.

Netanyahu declined comment on the meeting. He has yet to visit the UAE and Bahrain since formal ties were established, with tacit approval from Gulf powerhouse Saudi Arabia.

On Thursday, he said he expected more countries to normalise ties with Israel in the next few months.

There was limited talk of the meeting on Saudi social media, but some opposition figures denounced the visit. Political analysts said the Saudi denial of the meeting could have been a way to test the waters at home.

Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, has softened its stance on Israel in recent years, but signalled it is not yet ready to officially normalise ties, which analysts say would be a difficult move for King Salman in the absence of an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.

"(The meeting with Netanyahu) aimed to highlight that MbS (Mohammed bin Salman) is more willing than his father to take steps towards normalisation without first reaching a two-state solution," said Neil Quilliam, Associate Fellow at Chatham House think tank.

Despite this, normalisation is not expected to happen while King Salman is alive, said a well-connected Saudi source and a foreign diplomat in Riyadh.

"Normalisation ... is a carrot to get (Biden's) focus away from other issues, especially (Saudi) human rights," the diplomat said.

The Saudi source and the diplomat said the Saudi king was kept in the dark about Netanyahu's visit.

Although the king chaired last weekend's virtual G20 leaders' summit, rumours of his declining health have swirled since he was admitted to hospital this summer.

A video was leaked during the G20 summit which showed MbS correcting the confused king's recollection, a leak which sources said was intentional.

The Saudi government media office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Isreali Leak

The leak of Prince Mohammed's meeting with Netanyahu may have been intentional from Israel: an executive jet was used for the direct flight from Tel Aviv, which was quickly spotted on open-source flight trackers, and Israeli censors made no efforts to quash reporting on the trip.

Killing of suspected Iranian nuclear mastermind risks confrontation as Trump exits

The leak gave Netanyahu an opportunity to embarrass his political rival, Defence Minister Benny Gantz, who is due to take over as prime minister a year from now under a power-sharing agreement.

It included news that Netanyahu had not informed Gantz about the flight, in effect implying to Israeli voters that the centrist politician cannot be trusted to keep a secret, following speculation that an early election is on the cards.

Gantz called the leak "irresponsible".

Netanyahu has acknowledged he also kept Gantz in the dark about secret negotiations with the UAE that led to normalisation.

Top News / World+Biz

Saudi Arabia-Israel / Iran-Israel / US-Israel / US-Iran / Iranian nuclear scientist / Mohsen Fakhrizadeh-Mahabadi

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • RMG turns to India from China to get cheaper man-made yarn
    RMG turns to India from China to get cheaper man-made yarn
  • Country's revenue earnings were Tk40,000cr more in last fiscal: Finance Minister
    Country's revenue earnings were Tk40,000cr more in last fiscal: Finance Minister
  • The world's richest person is trying to head off a succession battle
    The world's richest person is trying to head off a succession battle

MOST VIEWED

  • People stand in front of collapsed buildings following an earthquake in Kahramanmaras, Turkey, 3 February, 2023. Photo: Reuters
    Why is Turkey an earthquake hot spot?
  • The megaproject Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant has a debt of Tk90,474 crore. Photo: Courtesy
    Projects funded with debt need to be selected prudently, and implemented timely
  • Some tough tasks on the plate for Bangladesh Bank!
    Some tough tasks on the plate for Bangladesh Bank!
  • Having sufficient reserves, strong social security needed to be safe in bad time
    Having sufficient reserves, strong social security needed to be safe in bad time
  • Resilience should be built to cope with long-term implications
    Resilience should be built to cope with long-term implications
  • Why 2012 reforms were not done is a million-dollar question
    Why 2012 reforms were not done is a million-dollar question

Related News

  • Blinken Mideast visit highlights US limitations in region
  • Israel appears to have been behind drone strike on Iranian factory - US official
  • US slaps sanctions on Iran officials over protest crackdown
  • Iran says 9 face death over nuclear scientist's assassination
  • US to work with Israel, and support two state solution: Blinken

Features

Photo: Reuters

A tragedy that will also shake up the region's geopolitics

3h | Panorama
Nimah designed by Compass Architects- Wooden tiles. Photo: Junaid Hasan Pranto

Trendy flooring designs to upgrade any space

14h | Habitat
Benefits of having high ceilings in your new home

Benefits of having high ceilings in your new home

13h | Habitat
Each Reverse Osmosi plant can produce approximately 8,000 litres of drinking water a day for around 250 families. Photo: Sadiqur Rahman

A drop in the ocean of persistent water crisis

15h | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

30% companies see double-digit growth even in hard times

30% companies see double-digit growth even in hard times

5h | TBS Insight
Challenging time waiting for RMG

Challenging time waiting for RMG

12h | TBS Round Table
"Full Moon Meditation" organized by Department of Theater and Performance Studies, University of Dhaka

"Full Moon Meditation" organized by Department of Theater and Performance Studies, University of Dhaka

12h | TBS Graduates
10 cricketers who have played over 400 T20 matches

10 cricketers who have played over 400 T20 matches

12h | TBS SPORTS

Most Read

1
Photo: Courtesy
Panorama

From 'Made in Bangladesh' to 'Designed in Bangladesh'

2
Leepu realised his love for cars from a young age and for the last 40 years, he has transformed, designed and customised hundreds of cars. Photo: Collected
Panorama

'I am not crazy about cars anymore': Nizamuddin Awlia Leepu

3
Master plan for futuristic Chattogram city in the making
Districts

Master plan for futuristic Chattogram city in the making

4
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) logo is seen outside the headquarters building in Washington, U.S., September 4, 2018. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas/File Photo
Economy

IMF approves $4.7 billion loan for Bangladesh, calls for ambitious reforms

5
Belal Ahmed new acting chairman of SIBL
Banking

Belal Ahmed new acting chairman of SIBL

6
Photo: Collected
Crime

Prime Distribution MD Mamun arrested in fraud case

EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2023
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net