The parties concerned reached an agreement on the withdrawal of peacekeepers from Tiran Island in the Red Sea. This was announced on July 15 by US President Joe Biden following talks with the leadership of Saudi Arabia. Axios.
“We have struck a historic deal to turn the flashpoint at the heart of the wars in the Middle East into an area of peace. International peacekeepers, including American troops, will leave Tiran Island in the Red Sea, where they have been stationed for more than 40 years – since the Camp David Accords (1978 – Ed.),” the head of the White House said.
He also said that the island is planned to be opened for tourism and economic development, as well as to maintain agreements in the field of security and freedom of navigation of all parties, including Israel.
Biden recalled that Saudi Arabia earlier in the day announced the opening of the country’s airspace to Israeli civilian airlines and called it the “first tangible” step towards the normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel.
The day before, the White House announced the intention of the United States to play a key role in the Middle East and not allow a vacuum there that could be filled by Russia and China. In China, it was previously predicted that Biden would return from a tour of the Middle East empty-handed.
Egypt approved the transfer of two islands – Tirana and Sanafira – in the Red Sea to the ownership of Saudi Arabia in 2017. However, the consent of Israel was necessary for the transfer of the islands.
Tiran and Sanafir are islands located in the Strait of Tiran between Saudi Arabia and Egypt. The strait is a narrow shipping corridor and is the outlet to the Red Sea from the Jordanian port of Aqaba and the port of Eilat in Israel.
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