Saudi Arabia steps up diplomatic push to prevent attacks on Iran
Saudi Arabia has launched a diplomatic push to stop attacks on Iran. According to an Al Jazeera report on Saturday, amid growing fears of renewed tension between the United States, Israel and Iran, Saudi Arabia has said it wants to restore peace in the region.
Speaking at a security forum held in Bahrain on Saturday, Saudi Deputy Foreign Minister Walid El-Khereiji said efforts are under way to prevent military escalation and to reach a settlement to end the ongoing crisis with Iran.
He said the message of the efforts everyone is making is very clear: the people of this region want peace restored here.
However, El-Khereiji said it is not possible to say in advance what the outcome of these efforts will be.
The report also said that last March the US newspaper The Washington Post reported that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had phoned Trump several times in February to privately request strikes on Iran, while publicly speaking of a diplomatic solution.
By August, however, the situation had changed, because in response to US attacks Iran had launched extensive drone and missile attacks on Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries.
In August, when Donald Trump was considering a major new attack on Iran, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman phoned Trump and requested that the crisis be resolved through diplomatic talks instead of expanding the military conflict.
