Saudi Arabia

President-elect Donald Trump could score major achievements in the Middle East almost as soon as he takes office.

Tehran welcomed Saudi Arabia’s highest-ranking military commander, Chief of the General Staff Lieutenant General Fayyadh bin Hamed Al-Ruwaili, for meetings on bilateral cooperation Sunday.

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol told a senior Saudi official in Seoul on Tuesday that his country is potentially a “best partner” to cooperate on a variety of issues of mutual interest, most prominently defense development and technology.

The government of Saudi Arabia hosted the inaugural meeting of the “International Alliance to Implement the Two-State Solution,” a nebulous coalition organized by Riyadh to formalize the creation of a Palestinian state.

Former President Donald Trump suggested to Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya News on Sunday that his sources from Lebanon were telling him that Israel needed to continue its war against Hezbollah and defeat the Iran-backed terrorist organization.

The government of Russia confirmed on Tuesday that Saudi Arabia is not yet an official member of the anti-American BRICS coalition, claiming that the Middle East will formalize its position one way or the other at this month’s summit.

The United Nations Human Rights Council held its annual membership elections on Wednesday, resulting in the admission of several human rights violating regimes such as Qatar, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Bolivia.

The Reuters news agency reported on Thursday that Gulf nations are concerned that any escalation between Iran and Israel will implicate them and threaten their oil facilities, leading to attempts to ingratiate themselves with Iran.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian was welcomed in Doha, Qatar, on Wednesday for a meeting with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, where they reportedly discussed the dangers of regional escalation.

The government of Saudi Arabia will reportedly end an eight-year embargo on funding to the Palestinian Authority (PA) with millions of dollars in relief money for the “humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and surrounding areas.”

Vice President Kamala Harris told MSNBC host Rachel Maddow in 2019 that then-President Donald Trump would be responsible for a dangerous escalation with Iran.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, de facto chief executive of Saudi Arabia, on Wednesday condemned the “crimes of the Israeli occupation” against Palestinians.

Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), said Wednesday that there would be no “normalization” of relations with Israel without the establishment of a Palestinian state — a reversal of his position one year ago.

Saudi diplomat and former intelligence chief Turki al-Faisal recently lamented the weak response by the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden and the greater West to Yemen’s Houthi terrorists disrupting commercial shipping in the Red Sea, the Guardian reported on Sunday, dismissing “pinprick bombings” as insufficient.

The Iran-backed Houthi terrorists of Yemen attacked three more commercial vessels in the Red Sea with drones and ballistic missiles.

The State Department announced on Saturday that it would lift a three-year ban on selling certain weapons to Saudi Arabia.

Multiple reports on Tuesday indicated that the governments of Jordan and Saudi Arabia communicated to rogue terror sponsor Iran that it could not use their airspace to attack Israel in response to the elimination of Hamas “political” chief Ismail Haniyeh.

Leaders of the Iran-backed Yemeni terrorist group Ansarullah, commonly known as the Houthis, threatened unnamed Arab states on Tuesday with an “answer” to their alleged cooperation with neighboring Israel, part of a larger statement of belligerence promising “unprecedented” attacks on Israel.

Chinese green energy companies Jinko Solar, TCL Zhonghuan Renewable Energy Technology, and Sungrow announced on Tuesday they have signed major deals with Saudi Arabia to build wind, solar, and energy storage projects. 

The Arab League announced on Sunday that it no longer considers Lebanese Hezbollah to be a terrorist organization, even though Hezbollah has been showering Israeli civilians with rockets for months to support the Hamas terrorists in Gaza.

Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman traveled to Beijing on Tuesday to meet with Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun and Gen. Zhang Youxia, vice-chair of the Central Military Commission (CMC) and China’s highest-ranking uniformed official.

Iran and Bahrain announced they agreed on negotiations to normalize their diplomatic relationship after nearly a decade of strain.

The prime minister of Egypt announced this weekend that the government of strongman Abdel Fattah al-Sisi would shut down at least 16 travel companies implicated in sending Egyptians to the Hajj pilgrimage without proper registration, resulting in hundreds dead from heat illness this month.

Authorities say more than 1,000 Muslims died during the recent Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia as the area suffered extreme temperatures.

Over 1,000 people participating in the Hajj, the Islamic mandatory pilgrimage to Mecca, have reportedly died this year as of Friday, prompting growing outrage at authorities in Saudi Arabia for allegedly failing to offer proper safety protocol, access to water, and other services.

At least 550 Muslims have died during 2024’s hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, most of them from “heat-related illnesses.”

The leader of the Iran-backed Yemeni terrorist group Ansarallah, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, warned neighboring Saudi Arabia on Thursday that any normalization deal would “disgrace” the country, implying his terrorists would consider the Saudis a legitimate target.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made an unannounced stop in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Wednesday for a brief meeting with that nation’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to discuss the ongoing Russian invasion of his country and a scheduled “peace summit” to address it.

The China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) announced on Thursday that its Sinopec Oilfield Service Company has signed an agreement worth about $1.1 billion to construct natural gas pipelines for Saudi Aramco, the state oil company of Saudi Arabia.

OPEC+ announced it would extend existing overall limits on oil production through 2025, attempting to ensure prices do not fall too low.

The president of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, signed a “Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA)” alongside South Korean counterpart Yoon Suk-yeol in Seoul on Wednesday, dramatically expanding trade between the two countries.

Saudi Arabia accused Israel on Wednesday of committing “continuous genocidal massacres” against Palestinians, casting the Biden administration’s efforts to broker a “normalization” deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia in doubt.

Political leaders in Saudi Arabia are pressing the administration of leftist President Joe Biden to help the country develop a nuclear program as part of a larger “security” deal that may ultimately include a pathway to normalizing ties with Israel, Reuters reported on Monday.

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, 88, will receive medical treatment for a “lung infection,” according to a news report from the country’s official news agency.

The leader of the Yemeni Houthi terrorist organization, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, demanded that the Muslim world work to revive “conscious spiritual Jihad” against America and Israel in remarks on Thursday, condemning Muslim-majority countries he suggested were embracing “passivity.”

A former colonel in the Saudi military and ex-intelligence officer told the BBC on the record Wednesday that the Saudi government ordered troops to kill indigenous people who resisted eviction on the land that Riyadh hopes to turn into the state-of-the-art “megacity” Neom.