Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman reportedly fears facing “assassination” as a result of his efforts at pursuing normalization of the kingdom’s relations with the Israeli regime.
American online news magazine Politico revealed the matter in a column published on Wednesday, citing the royal’s recent conversations with US lawmakers.
“The Saudi royal has mentioned to members of Congress that he’s putting his life in danger by pursuing a grand bargain with the US and Israel that includes normalizing Saudi-Israeli ties,” the piece read.
“On at least one occasion, he has invoked Anwar Sadat, the Egyptian leader slain after striking a peace deal with Israel, asking what the US did to protect Sadat,” it added.
Back in 2020, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco entered US-brokered rapprochement deals with the regime.
Washington has also reportedly been trying to add Riyadh to the list in a bid to bolster regional support for Tel Aviv, its most cherished ally.
Last July, the administration of US President Joe Biden announced that a deal for the regime and Saudi Arabia to normalize relations might be on the horizon following National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan’s talks with Saudi officials in the kingdom’s port city of Jeddah.
In September, though, the kingdom was reported to have informed the United States of its decision to suspend all negotiations on the potential rapprochement due allegedly to the Israeli cabinet’s unwillingness to make any concessions to the Palestinians.
A month later, following the onset of the regime’s yet-ongoing war on the Gaza Strip, Reuters also reported that Riyadh was “putting US-backed plans to normalize ties with Israel on ice.”
However, citing a former US official and other people with knowledge of the conversations between bin Salman and the congressmen, Politico noted that the Saudi crown prince “appears intent on striking the mega-deal with the US and Israel despite the risks involved. He sees it as crucial to his country’s future.”
The deal also reportedly features “multiple commitments” on the part of Washington to Riyadh, including security guarantees, assistance aimed at the kingdom’s nuclear program, and economic investment in areas such as technology.