Blinken says US-Saudi defence and energy agreements weeks away

The US and Saudi Arabia are ‘weeks away’ from concluding agreements on nuclear energy, security and defence cooperation, and that the Biden administration wants to bundle into a normalisation deal between Riyadh and Israel.

“Those agreements are in principle very close to being able to be concluded. Now of course we will come to Congress with them when they’re ready to be reviewed, but we’re - could be really weeks away from being able to conclude them,” US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said during a hearing at the House of Representatives.

The US says it wants to present the bilateral side of the agreement to Israel to move towards a two-state solution. Blinken has previously voiced skepticism whether Israel would agree to the establishment of a Palestinian state.

“However, in order for normalization to proceed, Saudi Arabia has made very clear that even with the agreements between us completed, they have to have two things: they have to have calm in Gaza and they have to have a credible pathway to a Palestinian state,” Blinken said.