As hostilities between Iran and Israel continue to escalate, former U.S. President Donald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman have stepped in with a joint appeal for restraint. The two leaders spoke by phone on Wednesday, urging all parties to avoid a wider war and commit to diplomacy.
Sources familiar with the conversation say the call focused on “preventing a dangerous regional spillover” as fears mount over a potential full-scale conflict.Both Trump and MBS are worried that the recent wave of deadly airstrikes combined with retaliatory threats has the Middle East rapidly moving towards instability.
The call’s timing is remarkable. Tensions have been brewing for the past week. Iran publically claims Israel is behind an escalating series of air raids which has reportedly killed two senior Iranian generals. In turn, Israel is publicly striking civilian targets described as “military infrastructure associated with Iran-backed militias.”
While Saudi Arabia has yet to officially stake a claim in the Iran-Israel conflict, the kingdom has sizeable interests in preventing disorder across the Gulf states. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has prioritized domestic economic growth and modernization, and is not interested in letting disorder in the region upend his Vision 2030 program, of which he has made clear he is fully supportive.
Furthermore, former president Trump, who has vocally criticized the current U.S. foreign policy interactions in the region, reported to have briefed the Crown Prince, and felt that it was very important that the diplomatic effort be explicit and aggressive. While out of office, Trump still maintains deep ties with Gulf leadership and has positioned himself as a voice of influence on foreign affairs.
“The Middle East cannot afford another war,” said a Gulf-based analyst. “With conflicts already raging in Gaza and Syria, the stakes are too high.”
The leaders purportedly discussed some potential means of de-escalation involving different neutral counties in backchannel conversations, but to date there has not been an announcement of any formal negotiations.
Calls for calm are coming from elsewhere, too, with the European Union calling on both Iran and Israel to de-escalate, and the United Nations warning at the time that the region was “on the edge of a very dangerous precipice.”
Whether the words of Trump and MBS will affect Tehran or Tel Aviv is to be seen. Nevertheless, with an underlying threat of expanded conflict, gestures of a diplomatic nature are going to be welcomed to many concerned people.
