Posted on 05/24/22
| News Source: i24
The US took the leading role in transferring two strategic islands in the Red Sea from Egypt to Saudi Arabia
The US administration is secretly negotiating a deal between Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Egypt that might lead to a normalization of relations between the Saudi kingdom and the Jewish State, Axios reported on Monday, citing five US and Israeli sources.
According to the sources, the US took the leading role in solving the issue of transferring two strategic islands in the Red Sea, Tiran and Sanafir, from Egypt to Saudi Arabia.
In 1950, Saudi Arabia handed over the control of the islands to Egypt, however, they became demilitarized as part of the 1979 Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty, the daily reported.
Today, the two islands in the Red Sea control the Straits of Tiran – a strategic sea passage to the ports of Aqaba in Jordan and Eilat in Israel.
The negotiations among the different parties continues, and no agreement has yet been signed.
One of the key issues is the question of a multinational force of observers, the sources told Axios.