Biden says deal may be in offing with Saudi Arabia, provides no details

By Trevor Hunnicutt

FREEPORT, Maine (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden said on Friday a deal may be on the way with Saudi Arabia after talks that his national security adviser had with Saudi officials in Jeddah aimed at reaching a normalization in relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel.

"There’s a rapprochement maybe under way," Biden told contributors to his 2024 re-election campaign at an event in Freeport, Maine.

Biden did not give details about the possible deal.

U.S. officials have sought for months to reach what would be a historic agreement between the long-time adversaries but the Saudis have been resistant.

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, in a piece published on Thursday, said Biden was considering whether to pursue a U.S.-Saudi mutual security pact that would involve Saudi Arabia normalizing relations with Israel.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, one of Biden's most trusted aides, was in Jeddah this week with Middle East envoy Brett McGurk discussing the possibility of a normalization deal, White House officials said.

U.S. officials see a potential deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia as possible after the administration of former President Donald Trump reached similar agreements between Israel and Morocco, Sudan, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.

(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt and Steve Holland; editing by Dan Whitcomb and Grant McCool)