The lack of any further public engagement (to normalise relations with Israel) during State Secretary Pompeo’s visit looks like a setback
Media mentions – Middle East and North Africa
Reluctance (to normalise relations with Israel) is linked to regional politics as well as to internal politics – and maybe also to Saudi Arabie’s stance
Saudi Arabia focuses more on where the US and also Russia is standing in regards to important regional topics
Die Presse quotes Faisal Abu al-Hassan and refers to the Mapping European Leverage in the MENA Region project
Other Gulf states including Oman, Qatar and Kuwait also face barriers to warming ties with Israel […] in these countries popular opposition towards normalisation is still quite high
Sudan is extremely keen to have US sanctions lifted and they are under heavy UAE influence
It is important to stress here that most Iranians with real ties in the Islamic republic were either expelled or moved away in the past years
Secretary of State Michael Pompeo is trying to turn an international agreement and the international system on their heads […] it’s really nothing short of vandalism on a broad scale
The UAE admire Isralian progress and know-how in cybersecurity and high technology sectors and want access to it
There is no doubt that Trump is using snapback as a desperate attempt to annihilate the nuclear deal before the US elections
In the end … this is more a political fight than a legal one