WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said he was confident Saudi Arabia will normalize ties with Israel, according to an interview published Friday by Time Magazine.
"Saudi Arabia will go into the Abraham accords," Trump said, referencing the historic agreement struck at the end of his first term in 2020, which saw Muslim-majority United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco normalize relations with Israel.
"That will happen," he added.
Trump is set to visit Saudi Arabia next month on a Middle East tour that was expected to be his first overseas trip since retaking the White House, though he will now be traveling to Italy first for Pope Francis's funeral.
Trump forged close relations with Riyadh in his first term and is expected to push Saudi Arabia, home of Islam's holiest sites, towards normalizing ties with Israel as a major foreign policy objective.
However, the war in Gaza has complicated those efforts and Saudi leaders have ruled out normalizing ties with Israel without the recognition of a Palestinian state, something Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposes.
Trump's trip to the region will also come as the White House pursues nuclear talks with Iran while threatening military action if a deal is not reached.