Riyadh, Saudi Arabia — Rising tensions over Iran’s regional activities and terror networks have pushed Saudi officials to call for urgent American intervention during former U.S. President Donald Trump’s high-profile Gulf visit this week. According to diplomatic sources, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is expected to ask Trump to use his influence to restrain Israel from launching unilateral military action against Iran—underscoring anxieties over conflict escalation across the Middle East.
The direct Saudi appeal follows months of intensifying hostilities driven by Iran’s sponsorship of terrorist organizations, including Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the Houthis in Yemen. These groups, often coordinated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), have carried out repeated attacks against Israel and destabilized neighboring states. The October 7, 2023 massacre—the deadliest antisemitic assault since the Holocaust, in which Hamas terrorists invaded Israeli territory, executing civilians and abducting hostages—sharpened Israel’s security doctrine and regional leaders’ assessment of Tehran’s threat.
Regional leaders worry that any unilateral Israeli pre-emptive action against Iran’s nuclear or military infrastructure might spark all-out war. Saudi Arabia, aware of the fragile stability across the Gulf and the risk to vital oil infrastructure, seeks commitments from its allies—particularly Washington—that diplomatic or collective measures will address Iran’s nuclear ambitions and regional aggression before matters reach a tipping point.
For Israel, self-defense remains paramount. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, and Minister of Defense Israel Katz have repeatedly warned that Israel cannot allow Iran to attain nuclear weapons or entrench hostile forces along its borders. The aftermath of October 7 transformed Israeli strategic calculations, exposing the risks of waiting for external guarantees.
Trump’s current diplomatic mission carries significance given his administration’s history of brokering the Abraham Accords, supporting Israeli self-defense, and cultivating strong ties with Gulf monarchs. While the Biden administration has emphasized diplomatic engagement with Tehran, Israel and its allies regard such channels as insufficient in deterring Iranian escalation and those of its proxies—a view increasingly echoed in Gulf capitals.
Israeli-Saudi relations have warmed in response to Iran’s growing threat. Enhanced intelligence sharing, back-channel dialogue, and discussions about normalization are accelerating, even as Saudi officials remain wary of public alignment absent progress on Palestinian issues and security guarantees. The prospect of formal Saudi–Israeli normalization, modeled on the Abraham Accords, hinges on credible U.S. commitments to check Iran’s advances in the region.
The IRGC’s efforts, including missile and drone transfers to Hezbollah and the Houthis, and support for various militias, continue to provoke alarm. Israeli intelligence, corroborated by international agencies, has mapped extensive terror networks stretching from southern Lebanon and Syria into Gaza, Iraq, and Yemen—all funded and sometimes directed by Tehran. The October 7 massacre reemphasized Hamas’s operational dependency on Iranian logistics and training, reinforcing Israel’s resolve to dismantle these networks for national survival.
From Riyadh’s perspective, open conflict between Israel and Iran could devastate regional economies, energy supplies, and fragile reform agendas. Officials warn that escalation would not remain confined to the combatants; missile and drone barrages could directly impact Saudi cities and oil facilities, as seen in prior IRGC-coordinated attacks on Aramco sites.
Against this backdrop, Saudi and Israeli officials are working—often covertly—with U.S. counterparts to establish deterrence measures while minimizing risks of miscalculation. Israeli requests for U.S. backing, meanwhile, reflect deep skepticism about Tehran’s intentions and a determination not to repeat what Israeli officials call the “errors of appeasement” that have historically failed to halt Iranian aggression.
The moral and legal clarity of Israel’s struggle is underlined by the October 7 atrocities. The deliberate targeting and kidnapping of Israeli civilians by Hamas terrorists—under Iranian patronage—met with international condemnation and a renewed understanding that Israel’s military campaigns, such as the ongoing Iron Swords Operation, are acts of self-defense against genocidal terrorism, not aggression. Israel continues to document and present evidence of war crimes committed by Iranian-backed terror groups, highlighting the gulf between Israeli military conduct and the tactics of its adversaries, who use civilian populations as shields and seek to undermine the sovereignty of neighboring states.
Looking forward, former President Trump’s personal rapport with Gulf and Israeli leaders may yield new coordination mechanisms, but the central challenge will remain: how to contain Iran’s regional ambitions and terror sponsorship without igniting broader war. As Saudi Arabia presses for a U.S. role in managing the Israeli-Iranian conflict dynamic, the coming period will test the resilience of emerging alliances and the efficacy of diplomatic tools against a determined and well-armed adversary.
The outcome of the Trump visit may influence the pace of Israeli-Saudi normalization, the posture of Western military forces deployed in the Gulf, and the future of collective efforts to confront and degrade the Iranian terror axis. For now, Saudi Arabia’s call for U.S. intervention signals both the gravity of the situation and the urgent need for robust, coordinated action from Israel and its allies in confronting Tehran’s ongoing threat.
