Saudi Arabia’s defense minister warned U.S. officials in Washington that failing to confront Iran militarily could strengthen the Islamic Republic.
Prince Khalid bin Salman told a closed-door gathering on Friday that Tehran would be “emboldened” if President Donald Trump refrains from ordering a strike on Iran, according to reporting by Axios. “At this point, if this doesn’t happen, it will only embolden the regime,” the Saudi defense minister was quoted as saying.
A source familiar with the meeting told the Times of Israel the comments were delivered as part of a broader argument that Washington must define clear objectives before taking action. The source said Prince Khalid also stressed that bombing Iran without a coherent plan would “only make things worse.”
The comments suggest a subtle but notable shift from the more cautious posture Saudi officials have publicly adopted as tensions rise between Washington and Tehran. Another Gulf official at a separate Friday meeting warned that while a U.S. strike risked “bad outcomes,” failing to act would leave “Iran coming out of this stronger,” according to Axios.
Behind the scenes, however, Saudi leaders continue to hedge. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman recently told Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian that Riyadh would not allow U.S. forces to use Saudi airspace for an attack on Iran, and Saudi officials have reiterated their preference for a diplomatic solution. That reluctance, Axios reported, has contributed to Trump’s decision to delay military action.
The Washington briefing attended by Prince Khalid included roughly 15 Middle East experts and representatives from five Jewish organizations, following earlier high-level meetings at the White House. According to Axios, the Saudi defense minister left Washington uncertain about the administration’s ultimate intentions.
Trump, for his part, said Friday that he has given Iran a deadline to reach a deal — without specifying when it expires. “Iran always wants to make a deal,” he said, while questioning whether U.S. and Iranian positions can be reconciled.
The administration has said any agreement with Tehran must include a ban on uranium enrichment, the removal of enriched uranium from Iran, limits on long-range missiles, and a rollback of support for regional proxies — conditions Iran has flatly rejected.
Axios also reported that Prince Khalid pushed back at the meeting against criticism that Saudi Arabia is pivoting away from Israel and toward the Muslim Brotherhood. “He said several times that it was nonsense,” one participant told the outlet. “The more he said it, the less reassuring it sounded.”
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
3 Responses
The crazy thing here is that the US is completely failing (at least in its lexicon) to distinguish between ‘Iran’ – the people fighting for (& paying with, in abundance) their lives to overthrow their evil regime – and the regime of the Islamic Republic itself, who can no longer claim to represent ‘Iran’ the country no matter how entrenched their power still appears to be
The very fact that Trump is even entertaining coming to a ‘deal’ with the Islamic regime after directly pushing the people to ‘Take over your institutions!’, and proclaiming publicly that ‘Help is on its way!!’ (even more than once if I’m not mistaken) and now many weeks later has still done absolutely nothing to substantiate that, is a bit galling
@Ido
After the 12 day war, I think we can give Trump the benefit of the doubt. He gave Iran 60 days to come to a deal, and on the 61st say, he bombed the 3 nuclear sites in iran. Everyone was freaking out that he was still going to negotiate. Many people doubted him, but he said they had 60 days and that’s what he gave them. Since he became president, he has been nothing but consistent. He doesn’t always say exactly what’s going on because he needs to keep the element of surprise, but at the end of the day, whether it’s Iran Venezuela or Israel, he’s been nothing but consistent. I have yet to be disappointed by his foreign policy..(well – aside from tariffs. Jury’s still out on that one.)
@momofboys95
I hope you are still right!
But it’s getting increasingly more difficult to see it like that when he publicly says he prefers a ‘deal’