Saudi foreign minister says Trump does not raise risk of Iran-Israel war By Reuters

By Samia Nakhul and Marwa Rashad

DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister said on Tuesday he did not see Donald Trump’s new administration increasing the risk of an Israel-Iran conflict, addressing an issue the region has feared since Israel’s war in Gaza began.

Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud also said in Davos that he hopes President Trump’s approach to Iran will be met with Tehran’s willingness to engage positively with the US administration and address its nuclear program.

“Obviously, a war between Iran and Israel, any war in our region, is something we should try to avoid as much as possible,” Prince Faisal said at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in a Swiss mountain resort.

“I don’t see the incoming US administration as contributing to the risk of war, on the contrary, President Trump has been very clear that he is not in favor of conflict.”

Prince Faisal also said he would visit Lebanon later this week, marking the first such trip by a Saudi foreign minister in more than a decade.

The kingdom has avoided Lebanon for years because of the strong influence of Iran-backed Hezbollah on state affairs.

Prince Faisal said the election of Lebanon’s president after a long vacuum in the country was positive, but Saudi Arabia needed real reforms to increase its involvement in the country.

Lebanon’s parliament elected army chief Joseph Aoun as head of state earlier this month, filling a presidential vacancy with a US-backed general and showing Hezbollah’s waning influence after the group’s devastating war with Israel.