Washington | WTNS | October 16:US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has urged Saudi Arabia to consider normalizing relations with Israel after Bahrain and the UAE.

“We hope Saudi Arabia will consider normalizing its relationships as well, and we want to thank them for the assistance they’ve had in the success of the Abraham Accords so far,” Pompeo said on Wednesday in a meeting with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud.

He further suggested that the move would diminish Iran’s influence in the region.

“They reflect a changing dynamic in the region, in which countries rightly recognize the need for regional cooperation to counter Iranian influence and generate prosperity,” Pompeo claimed.

The UAE and Bahrain signed an agreement last month towards normalizing relations with Israel, claiming that it was needed to stave off further annexation of Palestinian land and save the so-called two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Israeli authorities, however, say annexation plans are not off the table.

Palestinian officials have also denounced the Arab countries’ normalization with the regime in Te Aviv.

Palestinians seek an independent state in the West Bank and the besieged Gaza Strip with East Jerusalem al-Quds as its capital. They view the normalization as betrayal of the Palestinian cause.