Trump’s Mideast envoy meets Saudi Crown Prince MBS to discuss normalization, Gaza

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) in Riyadh on Wednesday, Axios reported, citing two sources familiar with the meeting.

The discussion marks the first direct engagement between MBS and a representative of the incoming Trump administration following the November elections.

Key step toward potential mega-deal with Saudi Arabia

Witkoff, appointed as Trump’s Middle East envoy, is tasked with pursuing a landmark agreement with Saudi Arabia. The deal aims to include:

• Peace agreement: Establishing normalized relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
• Progress on Israeli-Palestinian relations: Addressing demands for a path toward a Palestinian state.

Sources told Axios that Trump is focused on achieving a long-term peace solution in the region. Earlier this week, he told Time magazine, “I want a long-lasting peace … I’d like to see everybody be happy.”

I support a plan of peace, and it can take different forms. When I did the Abraham Accords, that should have been loaded up with people, you know. I made a statement. I think they didn’t add one country. Think of it. They didn’t add one country to the Abraham Accords. We had the four countries, very important countries, but that should have been loaded up with Middle Eastern countries. 

I support whatever solution we can do to get peace. There are other ideas other than two state, but I support whatever, whatever is necessary to get not just peace, a lasting peace. It can’t go on where every five years you end up in tragedy. There are other alternatives. 

I want a long lasting peace. I’m not saying that’s a very likely scenario, but I want a long lasting peace, a peace where we don’t have an October 7 in another three years. And there are numerous ways you can do it. You can do it two state, but there are numerous ways it can be done. And I’d like to see, who can be happy? But I’d like to see everybody be happy. Everybody go about their lives, and people stop from dying. That includes on many different fronts. I mean, we have some tremendous world problems that we didn’t have when I was president. You know, when I left, we had, we had an Iran that was not very threatening. They had no money. They weren’t giving money to Hamas. They weren’t giving money to Hezbollah.

Donald Trump

Topics discussed with Saudi Crown Prince MBS

Witkoff’s meeting with MBS covered several critical issues, including:

• U.S.-Saudi bilateral relationship
• Ongoing Gaza war and its regional implications
• Possibility of normalizing ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel

Witkoff’s broader Middle East engagements

Witkoff’s trip to Riyadh follows other high-level discussions involving Trump’s advisers across the region:

• United Arab Emirates: Witkoff attended a crypto conference in Abu Dhabi, where he also met Emirati National Security Adviser Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed to discuss Gaza, Syria, and other regional conflicts.
• Qatar: Trump’s Middle East adviser, Massad Boulos, met with Qatar’s prime minister in Doha to address regional tensions.
• Washington, D.C.: Boulos and Witkoff recently held talks with King Abdullah of Jordan and Israeli Minister for Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer.

Trump’s newly appointed special envoy for hostage affairs, Adam Boehler, is expected to visit Israel next week for discussions related to the ongoing Gaza conflict.

Context of mega-deal

Before the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, the Biden administration was negotiating a comprehensive deal involving a U.S.-Saudi defense treaty and civilian nuclear cooperation.

However, the Gaza war and Saudi demands for progress toward a Palestinian state have complicated prospects for an agreement.

Saudi officials remain open to a deal but emphasize their condition for a time-bound plan to establish a Palestinian state, a position Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not accepted.

Mark Dubowitz, CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), told Axios that Trump’s foreign policy may focus on reviving his “Peace to Prosperity” plan, a framework for Israeli-Palestinian peace.

Dubowitz emphasized that a mega-deal could serve as a foundation for peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia and broader regional stability.