Saudi royal slams Israel for igniting war on Iran

Prince Turki Al-Faisal of Saudi Arabia has written a damning opinion piece in the newswire Arab News, which not only calls the current upheaval in West Asia the “US-Israeli war on Iran”, but also says that Israel plans to be the only actor left standing in the West Asia region by its destabilizing tactics.

The former head of Saudi intelligence wrote:

Had the Israeli plan to ignite war between us and Iran succeeded, the region would have been plunged into ruin and destruction. Thousands of our sons and daughters would have been lost in a battle in which we had no stake. Israel would have succeeded in imposing its will on the region and remained the only actor in our surroundings.

The opinion piece lays bare the tensions in normalisation between Israel and Saudi Arabia – a deal long sought by the Americans – as the relationship dithers or falls apart amid the current conflict.

Prince Turki is remarkably conciliatory toward Iran, calling it ‘a neighbor’ even as he condemns it, while balancing that with a quiet warning of Saudi military capability. He says:

When Iran and others tried to drag the Kingdom into the furnace of destruction, our leadership chose to endure the pains caused by a neighbor in order to protect the lives and property of its citizens. Had the Kingdom wanted, and it is capable of doing so, to respond in kind to Iran by destroying Iranian facilities and interests, the outcome could have been the destruction of Saudi oil facilities and desalination plants along the Arabian Gulf coast, and even deep inside the Kingdom.

In the view of Israel’s Ynetglobal, the quiet UAE-Israel alliance is “gaining importance” during the war on Iran.

The Canary also pointed out that the recent UAE developments, including the US dollar swap request, exit from OPEC, and expulsion of 15,000 Pakistani Shias, can be read as interlocking signs of the Gulf state’s increased subservience to the US. Pro-Trump think tanks have even called it the “Israelification” of the UAE.

Saudis resisting the American push for normalisation with Israel

September 2026 will mark six years since the Abraham Accords were signed between Israel and four Arab states (Morocco, the UAE, Bahrain, and Sudan). Due to internal instability, Sudan has not ratified the Accords.

Saudi Arabia has resisted joining the Accords – and the implied normalisation with Israel – despite push from both the Biden and Trump administrations.

Even earlier this year, Prince Turki consistently pushed against normalization with Israel. In Arab News, he made clear that the crown prince – Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud – believes a Palestinian state must be established before any diplomatic ties with Israel can occur.

He accused Netanyahu of adopting a “reprehensible” strategy to break apart Arab nations by exploiting minority groups in Syria, recognizing breakaway states like Somaliland, and encouraging separatists like Aidrous Al-Zubaidi in Yemen, all while committing genocide against the Palestinians.

A week before Turki’s January op-ed, Al Jazeera reported that Al-Zubaidi fled to the UAE via Somaliland with the help of UAE officers, turning off the plane’s identification systems mid-flight, leading Saudi Arabia to declare him a fugitive and exposing the unprecedented rift between the former Gulf allies.

According to Giorgio Cafiero, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Oman are moving in the opposite direction, resisting normalization, viewing Israel as a growing threat to regional security and stability, and not wanting to see an Israeli footprint form on the Arabian Peninsula

Cafiero, the CEO of Gulf State Analytics, said in an interview with BTNews recently:

There is a growing view in Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar and many other Arab countries that Israel is a growing threat to the security and stability of the region.

He sees the UAE as being on a different page than countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Oman, which are  “uncomfortable” with the idea of turning to Israel as a security partner to protect Arab countries from Iran.

By Nandita Lal

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