Iran is closely watching Biden's regional trip

Iran is closely watching Biden's regional trip

Biden's itinerary includes just two countries, Israel and Saudi Arabia. Those are Tehran's biggest regional foes, and they are coming closer together than ever before.

The visit comes just weeks after Israel said that it was working with regional partners on an air defense alliance that is led by the US. Israel's Defense Minister Benny Gantz told the Knesset, Israel's parliament, that he hopes the program will "take another step forward" during Biden's trip to the region.

Saudi Arabia has been pressuring the US for security guarantees that would contain Iran should nuclear talks fail. The last round of talks in Doha two weeks ago resulted in a standstill, with the US saying Iran added unrelated demands to the table.

Early on Friday, just hours before Biden was due to touch down in the kingdom, Saudi Arabia moved one step closer to normalizing relations with Iran's arch-enemy Israel by opening its airspace to all airlines. Israeli carriers were previously barred from entering Saudi airspace on most flights.

Last month, US lawmakers introduced legislation to create an integrated air defense system to increase cooperation between Israel and its Arab neighbors, including the countries whose leaders Biden will meet in Saudi Arabia this week. The defense system is aimed to protect those states from Iran.

Jordan's King Abdullah, who Biden will meet in Saudi Arabia, said this month he favors joining a "Middle East NATO" with like-minded countries, without specifying which.

"It's quite traumatizing what we have to experience and it has impacted us... but we are still here for the fight, for justice, for accountability." @LinaAbuAkleh describes how her family is feeling over the killing of her aunt as @POTUS prepares to visit Palestine. pic.twitter.com/YdQs7RpJSp

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