Saudi Defence Minister Khalid bin Salman warned US officials in a meeting held in Washington on Friday, that the "Ayatollah regime will only grow stronger" if President Donald Trump does not follow through with his threats against Iran. The remarks were reported by four sources who spoke to Axios.
Khalid bin Salman reportedly said that after Trump’s repeated threats, he would ultimately be forced to take military action while seeking to reduce the risk of a regional escalation. Khalid Bin Salman is the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's closest advisor.
The statement is a turnaround from Saudi Arabia’s previous stance, made clear by a senior official from the Gulf Cooperation Council, who said that the country would not allow the US to use its airspace or bases to attack Tehran. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had also told Iranian President Pezeshkian that Riyadh would not allow the use of its airspace for a strike in Iran on Wednesday, during a call.
The meeting on Friday lasted about an hour and included about 15 Middle East experts from research institutes and representatives of five Jewish organisations.
Bin Salman also reportedly repeated a similar message during a gathering at the White House a day earlier. He also said that he didn't know what the Trump administration's current strategy was.
One US official who spoke to Middle East Eye a day before the meeting said that the US was trying to sway Saudi Arabia to get behind an attack on Iran. Some of the talking points of the meeting were how a military strike on Tehran could reduce the country's threats to partners in the region.
Still, one Arab official said Saudi Arabia may be convinced to quietly acquiesce to US strikes.
The US has troops in Jordan and an aircraft carrier in the region, but would need approval from Saudi to use their airspace for contingency planning, a former US defence official told Middle East Eye.
After the meeting on Friday, a Gulf official said that Saudi Arabia was “stuck” in a position where the U.S. striking Iran risked "bad outcomes," but not doing so would mean "Iran will come out of this stronger."
A reason for the shift in stance could be that Saudi Arabia had reportedly taken Trump's multiple threats as a determination to strike the country and did not want to be seen as opposing the move.
Trump on Friday said that the Islamic Republic wanted a deal. “I can say this, they do want to make a deal. I hope it happens,” Trump told reporters at the White House, while warning, “If there is no deal, we’ll see what happens.”
Meanwhile, Iran is anticipating a US strike against Tehran and has made it clear that it will not engage in negotiations unless President Trump stops threatening it. A western source who spoke to Iran international said that the the question is not whether the strike will occur but when. “The decision has been made, and now they are waiting for a suitable operational opportunity, which could arise within days or possibly weeks,” the source said.