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After naming its terms for a normalization deal with Israel, Saudi Arabia restores relations with Iran
(JTA) — Saudi Arabia has taken significant steps this week toward better relations with two countries that see each other as sworn enemies: Israel and Iran.
On Thursday, the kingdom set terms for what it would need from the United States as a price for normalizing relations with Israel: a security agreement of some kind with the United States, a civilian nuclear program and decreased restrictions on U.S. arms sales.
Then, on Friday, Saudi officials signed an agreement with Iran, brokered by China in Beijing, that restores diplomatic ties between the two countries. Saudi Arabia and Iran are regional rivals that have competed for influence across the Middle East, and that have taken opposing sides in Yemen’s long-running civil war. The two states ceased diplomatic relations in 2016. Now, they have pledged to reopen embassies in each other’s countries within two months.
The two developments have created a complex picture for Israel, whose prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has publicly sought a normalization deal with Saudi Arabia. Establishing full relations with Saudi Arabia would add the powerful country to the list of Arab states that have signed normalization deals with Israel in recent years under a framework called the Abraham Accords.
The Biden administration has also said it would like to add more Arab countries to the accords. If Saudi Arabia and Israel did establish full ties, it would be a milestone in Arab-Israeli relations, which have historically been hostile.
Part of Israel’s rationale for normalizing relations with Saudi Arabia is that the relationship would allow the two countries to better confront Iran’s ambitions, including its nuclear program. But Saudi Arabia’s public thaw in relations with Iran complicates that picture. Included in the reestablishment of Saudi-Iranian ties is the revival of a security cooperation pact, according to The New York Times.
Saudi Arabia’s publicizing a list of demands in exchange for normalization with Israel isn’t its first foray into trying to facilitate a diplomatic agreement with the state, whose nearest border is only about 150 miles from Saudi Arabia’s border with Jordan. More than two decades ago, a Saudi-led peace plan promised full relations between Israel and the Arab world in exchange for full Israeli withdrawal from all territories it captured in the 1967 Six Day War, the establishment of a Palestinian state and “a just solution to the Palestinian refugee problem.” Israel has not viewed the proposal as a basis for negotiations, and Saudi Arabia has previously said it wouldn’t establish full ties with Israel before a Palestinian state is established.
Netanyahu does not appear to have commented directly on either the Saudi list of demands or the kingdom’s restored relations with Iran. But in an interview with the Italian newspaper La Repubblica yesterday, published before the Saudi terms were announced, Netanyahu said Arab states “can see we share a strategic interest” and added that “they see our technology and innovation and understand the opportunity it represents for the entire region.”
“Riyadh has released many statements,” he added, referring to a Saudi commitment not to normalize relations with Israel before the establishment of a Palestinian state. “But naturally I believe that the peace agreement between us and the Saudis will lead to an agreement with the Palestinians, provided they agree to recognize the existence of Israel.”
On Friday, the Israeli news website Walla quoted an “Israeli official” who spoke about the Saudi-Iran agreement to the reporters accompanying Netanyahu on a visit to Italy. The anonymous official blamed the agreement on the “weakness” of the United States and the previous Israeli government.
“There was a feeling of American and Israeli weakness, and so Saudi Arabia turned to different horizons,” the official said, according to Walla. “It was clear where they were going.”
Yair Lapid, Netanyahu’s immediate predecessor and the leader of Israel’s parliamentary opposition, criticized Netanyahu over the Saudi-Iran agreement.
“The agreement between Saudi Arabia and Iran is a total and dangerous failure of the foreign policy of the Israeli government,” he tweeted. “It’s a collapse of the regional wall of defense that we began to build against Iran.”
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The post After naming its terms for a normalization deal with Israel, Saudi Arabia restores relations with Iran appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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High-Stakes US Special Forces Mission Rescues Airman From Iran After F-15 Crash
FILE PHOTO: A U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle aircraft takes off for a mission supporting Operation Epic Fury during the Iran war at an undisclosed location, March 9, 2026. U.S. Air Force/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
US forces staged the audacious rescue of an airman behind enemy lines after Iran downed his fighter jet, officials said on Sunday, resolving a crisis for President Donald Trump as he weighs escalating the war, now in its sixth week.
The airman rescued by special operations forces, who Trump said was a colonel, was the weapons-systems officer on the downed F-15, a US official told Reuters.
“Over the past several hours, the United States Military pulled off one of the most daring Search and Rescue Operations in US History,” Trump said in a statement, adding that the airman was injured but “he will be just fine.”
The officer was the second of two crew members on the warplane that Iran said on Friday had been brought down by its air defenses. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said several aircraft were destroyed during the US rescue mission, Tasnim news agency reported.
Reuters reported on Friday that the first crew member had been retrieved, triggering a high-profile search by both Iran and the United States for the remaining airman.
Iranian officials had urged citizens to help find him, hoping to gain leverage against Washington in the war Trump and Israel launched on February 28.
Trump has threatened to escalate the conflict in the coming days with attacks on Iran’s energy infrastructure.
Had Iran captured the airman, the ensuing hostage crisis could have shifted American public perception of a conflict that opinion polls show was already unpopular.
Trump said the airman was rescued “in the treacherous mountains of Iran” in what he said was the first time in military memory that two US pilots had been rescued, separately, deep in enemy territory.
The official told Reuters that as the weapons-systems officer was moved from near a mountain to a transport aircraft parked within Iran, US forces had to destroy at least one of the aircraft because it had malfunctioned.
U.S. AIRCRAFT HIT
The rescue effort, involving dozens of military aircraft, encountered fierce resistance from Iran.
Reuters reported on Friday that two Black Hawk helicopters involved in the search were hit by Iranian fire but escaped from Iranian airspace.
Separately, a pilot ejected from an A-10 Warthog fighter aircraft after it was hit over Kuwait and crashed, the officials said, though the extent of crew injuries was unclear.
Still, Trump was triumphant.
“The fact that we were able to pull off both of these operations, without a SINGLE American killed, or even wounded, just proves once again, that we have achieved overwhelming Air Dominance and Superiority over the Iranian skies,” he said in his statement.
US air crews are trained in what to do if they go down behind enemy lines, measures known as Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape, but few are fluent in Persian and face a challenge in staying undetected while seeking rescue.
The conflict has killed 13 US military service members, with more than 300 wounded, US Central Command says. No US troops have been taken prisoner by Iran.
While Trump has repeatedly sought to portray the Iranian military as being in tatters, they have repeatedly been able to hit US aircraft.
Reuters reported on US intelligence showing that Iran retains large amounts of missile and drone capability. Until just over a week ago, the US could only determine with certainty that it had destroyed about one-third of Iran’s missile arsenal.
The status of about another third was less clear, but bombings probably damaged, destroyed or buried those missiles in underground tunnels and bunkers, Reuters sources said.
The US and Israeli war on Iran has spread across the Middle East, killing thousands and hitting the global economy with soaring energy prices that are fueling fears of inflation.
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On Easter, Pope Leo Urges World Leaders to End Wars, Renounce Conquest
Pope Leo XIV waves from the main balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica after delivering his “Urbi et Orbi” (To the city and the world) message, on Easter Sunday at the Vatican, April 5, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Remo Casilli
Pope Leo urged global leaders in his Easter message on Sunday to end the conflicts raging across the world and abandon any schemes for power, conquest or domination.
The pope, who has emerged as an outspoken critic of the Iran war, lamented in a special message to the thousands gathered in St. Peter’s Square that people “are growing accustomed to violence, resigning ourselves to it, and becoming indifferent.”
“Let those who have weapons lay them down!” the first US pope exhorted. “Let those who have the power to unleash wars choose peace!”
Leo did not mention any specific conflicts in the message, known as the “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world) blessing. It was unusually brief and direct.
The pope said that the story of Easter, when the Bible says Jesus rose from the dead three days after not resisting his execution by crucifixion, shows that Christ was “entirely nonviolent.”
“On this day of celebration, let us abandon every desire for conflict, domination, and power, and implore the Lord to grant his peace to a world ravaged by wars,” Leo urged.
Leo, who is known for choosing his words carefully, has been forcefully decrying the world’s violent conflicts in recent weeks and ramping up his criticism of the Iran war.
In a sermon for the Easter vigil on Saturday night, he urged people not to feel numbed by the scope of the conflicts raging across the world but to work for peace.
The pope made a rare direct appeal to US President Donald Trump on Tuesday, urging him to find an “off-ramp” to end the Iran war.
In his address from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica on Sunday to the Square below, decorated with thousands of brightly colored flowers for the holiday, Leo offered brief Easter greetings in ten languages, including Latin, Arabic and Chinese.
The pope also announced he would return to the Basilica on April 11 to host a prayer vigil for peace.
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Temple Mount Set for Limited Reopening to Jews and Muslims
Israeli National Security Minister and head of Jewish Power party Itamar Ben-Gvir gives a statement to members of the press, ahead of a possible ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in Jerusalem, Jan. 16, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Oren Ben Hakoon
i24 News – Israeli authorities are preparing to partially reopen the Temple Mount in Jerusalem to both Jewish and Muslim worshipers for the first time since the start of the war with Iran, under a tightly controlled and highly restricted security arrangement, i24NEWS has learned.
According to details obtained by i24NEWS, the Israeli police, backed by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, are also expected to permit limited access for Jewish worshipers to the Western Wall as part of the same phased plan.
Under the framework, access to the Temple Mount and surrounding holy sites would be restricted to small groups of up to 150 people at a time. In the event of a missile alert, all visitors would be immediately evacuated in accordance with emergency protocols.
The decision follows a recent Supreme Court ruling allowing demonstrations in a limited format. Police argue that a consistent standard must apply across both civic gatherings and religious sites, with Ben-Gvir insisting that “there cannot be one rule for demonstrations and another for the Temple Mount.”
However, the reopening contradicts recommendations from the Home Front Command, which has advised keeping sensitive sites closed due to the ongoing risk of missile attacks.
Israeli Justice Minister Yariv Levin has proposed transferring authority over such security-related decisions exclusively to defense officials, an initiative that could reshape the balance between the judiciary and security establishment regarding restrictions on public access.