Trump's Middle East envoy meets with Saudi crown prince... discussing 'Saudi-Israel diplomatic relations'?

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's special envoy to the Middle East visited Saudi Arabia and met with his real power, Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman, U.S. Internet media Axios reported.

Axios reported that Stephen Witkov, who Trump selected as the Middle East envoy, met with Crown Prince Bin Salman in Saudi Arabia on the 11th.

Although the discussion has not been made public, it is speculated that they exchanged views over the issue of diplomatic ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel.

Trump's sources told Axios he hopes Trump will sign a historic peace deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia, or at least make progress toward ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

This is the first time Trump's personnel have met with Crown Prince Bin Salman since the U.S. presidential election last month.

Earlier, the Joe Biden administration was eager to establish diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel.

The Biden administration has negotiated with Saudi Arabia, the leader of the Middle East, believing that diplomatic ties with Israel would have a decisive impact on easing tensions in the region.

However, Saudi Arabia demanded permission to develop nuclear power in the private sector, and especially after the outbreak of the Gaza war in October last year, it stuck to the "establishment of an independent Palestinian state" as an unyielding condition, which effectively stranded the negotiations.