Does not include normalization.. A possible security agreement between Saudi Arabia and the United States

The United States and Saudi Arabia are discussing a possible security agreement that would not include a broader deal with Israel, Axios reported Monday, citing three sources familiar with the talks.

According to the website, the agreement currently being discussed is "not defensive," and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and the White House want to reach it before President Joe Biden leaves office in January 2025.

Before the attack launched by armed Palestinian factions, most notably Hamas, on the Gaza envelope settlements on October 7, 2023, the Biden administration was negotiating with Saudi Arabia and Israel on a huge deal, including a peace agreement between the two countries.

But these attacks and their repercussions from the open war fronts between Israel and factions and countries for more than a year, prevented the completion of this deal in the near future, according to Axios.

The sources said that Saudi National Security Adviser Musaad bin Mohammed Al-Aiban visited the White House last week and met with his US counterpart Jake Sullivan and Biden's advisers Brett McGurk and Amos Hochstein, as well as Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.

She added that the talks at the White House focused on US-Saudi bilateral relations, especially a set of security, technological and economic agreements that both sides want to sign before Biden leaves the presidency.

The security agreement discussed at the meeting is “separate from efforts to advance a massive deal that would normalize relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia,” one of the sources told Axios.

He explained that the idea is to draft a bilateral US-Saudi security agreement similar to the one signed by the Biden administration with other Gulf states in recent years, which strengthened the US position in the region.

Months ago, reports indicated that the United States was discussing with Saudi Arabia the terms of a defense treaty similar to the military agreements with Japan and South Korea, according to American officials.

Reports at the time indicated that the Biden administration was seeking, through this agreement, to push Saudi Arabia to normalize relations with Israel.

According to her, this agreement was based on the United States’ general commitment to provide military support if Saudi Arabia was attacked in the region, or on Saudi territory.

Last September, Bin Salman confirmed that his country would not establish diplomatic relations with Israel without establishing a Palestinian state, during a speech he gave at the opening of the first year of the ninth session of the Shura Council.

He said, "We renew the Kingdom's rejection and strong condemnation of the crimes of the Israeli occupation authority against the Palestinian people, ignoring international and humanitarian law in a new and bitter chapter of suffering."

Source: Axios