Waltz touts good chances for Israeli-Saudi normalization under Trump

The incoming US national security adviser speculates that there are good chances that there will be a Saudi-Israeli normalization agreement.

“I think it’s a natural next step,” Mike Waltz says during a podcast interview with conservative commentator Ben Shapiro, reiterating Donald Trump’s belief that the deal would have already been forged had the president-elect won in 2020.

“The reordering was focusing on Iran as the common enemy that they are… versus putting the Palestinian issue right in the center,” he says, summarizing the idea behind the Abraham Accords. Waltz asserts that Iran saw how close the sides were to a deal “and lit the match with Hamas [that led to] October 7… [which] put that issue right back into the center.”

“We’ve had a lot of good discussions with the Saudis [about] normalization,” the top Trump aide notes, adding that he is still reviewing the issue.

“The overall prospects of moving that relationship forward — get our [hostages] out, get the issue of Gaza to a better place — at least for now — and then we absolutely are talking about a broader deal,” says Waltz.