https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-66879342
Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince has said “every day we get closer” to normalising ties with Israel.
A deal between the two powers would mark a huge regional shift.
But in a rare interview with Fox News, Mohammed bin Salman stressed the Palestinian issue was still a “very important” part of US-brokered talks.
As part of the negotiation process, the Wall Street Journal said Israeli and US officials were working on a plan that could see Riyadh openly enrich uranium.
Enriched uranium can be used to make nuclear reactor fuel but also nuclear weapons.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – who has previously warned about the dangers of a Middle Eastern nuclear arms race – has not publicly responded to that article. The Fox News interview aired shortly after Mr Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden met on the side-lines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
They also spoke positively about the chances of a breakthrough that would see Israel and Saudi Arabia establishing diplomatic relations for the first time. The US is a close ally of both countries.
An Israeli official statement said the meeting in New York “mostly dealt with ways to establish an historic peace agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia, which could greatly advance an end to the Arab-Israeli conflict”.
Israel's Foreign Minister, Eli Cohen, later said that a framework deal could be in place by early next year. “The gaps can be bridged,” Mr Cohen told Israel's Army Radio. “It will take time. But there is progress.”
The Biden administration hopes such a timeframe would enable it to clinch ratification in the US Congress – where many, particularly in the president's own Democratic Party, are critical of Saudi Arabia's human rights record. It would then have a significant foreign policy achievement to show ahead of November's US presidential election. Like most Arab countries, Saudi Arabia has held off from recognising Israel out of solidarity with the Palestinians.
However, since late last year, the US has been trying to bring about a breakthrough that would build on the so-called Abraham Accords mediated by the Trump administration, which saw Israel sign bilateral agreements on normalisation with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in 2020.
In exchange for normalising ties with Israel, Saudi Arabia – which positions itself as a leader in the Middle East and the Islamic world – is asking for major military support from the US, co-operation in establishing its own civilian nuclear programme, and significant Israeli concessions to the Palestinians.
The latter would be extremely difficult to achieve under the most religious and nationalist government in Israel's history.