Middle East 'mega-deal': Trump envoy Witkoff meets MBS in Saudi visit

President-elect Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, met with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during a visit to Saudi Arabia this past week, according to two sources briefed on the meeting – the first encounter between MBS and a representative of the incoming Trump administration since the November elections.

Trump appointed Witkoff, a close friend and confidant, as his administration’s Middle East envoy with the clear goal of securing a “mega-deal” with Saudi Arabia.

Trump reportedly wants the deal to include a historic peace agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia, as well as progress toward resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to sources familiar with his thinking.

“I want a long-lasting peace. I’m not saying that’s a very likely scenario... I want a peace where we don’t have an October 7 in another three years. I’d like to see everybody be happy,” Trump told Time earlier this week, in its interview with the incoming president whom the magazine chose as its 2024 “Person of the Year.”

Witkoff’s trip was part of a series of meetings Trump advisers have held with Middle Eastern leaders in recent weeks.

One source said Witkoff and MBS discussed US-Saudi relations, the war in Gaza, the possibility of normalizing ties with Israel, and other regional issues.

Earlier last week, the incoming envoy attended a crypto conference in the UAE. A few months ago, Witkoff and Trump co-founded a cryptocurrency company called World Liberty Financial, Inc.

During his visit to Abu Dhabi, Witkoff met with the UAE’s National Security Advisor, Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and discussed the war in Gaza, the revolution in Syria, and other regional topics, according to two sources.

Trump’s Middle East adviser, Massad Boulos, was also in the region this past week and met with Qatar’s Prime Minister in Doha, a source familiar with the meeting said. Boulos is also the father-in-law of Trump’s daughter, Tiffany.

Last Wednesday, Boulos met with King Abdullah of Jordan in Washington, according to another source.

That same day, Witkoff and Boulos met in Washington with Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, a close confidant of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, an Israeli official said.

Trump’s newly appointed Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs, Adam Boehler, is expected to visit Israel this week for the first time since his appointment, another senior Israeli official said.

The Saudi and UAE embassies in Washington, as well as Witkoff, Boulos, and Trump’s team, declined to comment.

Flashback

Before the Hamas attack against Israel on October 7, 2023, the Biden administration had been negotiating with Saudi Arabia and Israel on a mega-deal that would include a peace agreement between the two nations.

The White House also sought to include a US-Saudi defense pact and a civilian nuclear cooperation agreement as part of the deal, believing the Senate might approve it as part of a broader agreement.

MBS had concluded that such a mega-deal would only be politically feasible under the Biden administration.

However, the October 7 attack derailed negotiations. The ongoing wars in Gaza and Lebanon, combined with Saudi demands for steps toward establishing a Palestinian state, have made the agreement challenging for both Israel and Saudi Arabia in the short term.

MBS and his senior advisers have publicly and privately reiterated in recent months that they remain interested in reaching such an agreement but have emphasized Saudi Arabia’s key condition: an Israeli commitment to a clear, irreversible timeline for establishing a Palestinian state.

So far, Netanyahu has refused this demand. The prime minister and his senior advisers believe that under Trump, and with Israel’s recent military successes against Iran and its proxies, the Saudis might drop their “Palestinian condition,” according to two sources.

In his interview with Time, Trump did not express support for the peace plan he introduced during his first term, which was based on a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Mark Dubowitz, CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and a confidant of some of Trump’s foreign policy team, said the president-elect is likely to revive his peace plan as a cornerstone of his Middle East strategy.

“This is key for facilitating a peace agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia. It could also enable the end of the war in Gaza [and] help implement a day-after reconstruction and security plan with strong Gulf support,” he said.

Trump was reportedly frustrated at not winning the Nobel Peace Prize for brokering the Abraham Accords, according to several sources. Dubowitz noted that a mega-deal with Saudi Arabia could boost Trump’s chances of securing the coveted award.