U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has called off his upcoming visit, according to a report from I24NEWS that cites a source familiar with the matter.
As reported by Ynet, Hegseth made the decision to cancel his trip in order to accompany President Donald Trump on his regional tour, which will notably not include a stop in Israel.
Axios had earlier reported, based on information from two Israeli officials, that Hegseth was originally slated to land in Israel on Monday to hold meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yisroel Katz.
The original itinerary reportedly had him continuing on from Israel to Saudi Arabia, where he would then join up with President Trump.
In an announcement on Tuesday, President Trump said that the Houthi rebels had communicated to him their intention to stop targeting American vessels, prompting the U.S. to suspend its retaliatory operations against the group.
Following this announcement, reports surfaced indicating that the Israeli government had not been briefed beforehand on the U.S. decision to halt strikes against the Houthis.
Additionally, later in the week, Reuters reported that the U.S. government had dropped its insistence that Saudi Arabia formally recognize Israel as part of any civil nuclear cooperation agreement.
Previously, progress on nuclear discussions had been contingent on a larger package involving a U.S.-Saudi defense pact and diplomatic normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel. However, Saudi leaders have repeatedly emphasized that recognition of Israel is off the table unless a Palestinian state is first established—a stance that has only strengthened during the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
{Matzav.com}