Iran: lynchpin in the Saudi-Israeli relationship

July 29, 2022

Iran: Lynchpin in the Saudi-Israeli Relationship | GZERO World

US President Joe Biden didn't get much from his recent trip to Saudi Arabia — other than some symbolic progress on Saudi ties with Israel.

Indeed, Biden's plane flew directly to the country from Israel, and now Israeli airlines will be allowed to overfly Saudi airspace. But is this really a big deal?

"I would describe it as [...] giving crumbs to Biden," Bernard Haykel, a Princeton University professor and expert on Saudi Arabia, tells Ian Bremmer on GZERO World.

What would make a difference is normalizing ties with Israel — which the Saudis are not yet ready for. Haykel believes the Saudi public won't accept such a move until "something is given to the Palestinians."

Still, he expects the Israel-Saudi relationship to continue warming because, hello, Iran.

Watch the GZERO World episode: Saudi Arabia’s repressive power politics

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