WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he was expecting Saudi Arabia to sign the agreement announced last week through Israel and the United Arab Emirates to normalize diplomatic relations and forge a new broad relationship.
“Yes,” Trump said when asked at a news convention at the White House if he expected Saudi Arabia to sign the deal.
As a component of the deal, which Trump helped negotiate, Israel agreed to suspend its planned annexation of spaces in the occupied West Bank. The agreement also reinforces opposition to regional power, Iran, which the United Arab Emirates, Israel and the United States see as the greatest risk in the Middle East.
In Saudi Arabia’s first official comment since the agreement was announced, its foreign minister said Wednesday that the Sunni kingdom remains committed to peace with Israel on the basis of a 2002 Arab peace initiative.
Saudi Arabia, which does recognize Israel, developed the initiative through which Arab nations proposed to normalize relations with Israel in exchange for a state agreement with the Palestinians and Israel’s total withdrawal from captured territory in 1967.
Earlier at the press conference, Trump referred to the agreement between the United Arab Emirates and Israel and said Array “countries where they would not even think they need to make this deal.” He called any country other than Saudi Arabia.
Trump also said the United Arab Emirates is interested in buying F-35 aircraft manufactured through Lockheed Martin Co, which Israel used in combat.
“They have and would like to order a lot of F-35s,” Trump said.
(Report through Andrea Shalal; written through Mohammad Zargham; edited through Eric Beech and Howard Goller)
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