US, Western European diplomats meet in Paris to discuss Mideast tensions

French Foreign Minister hosted his Italian, British and US counterparts and a German foreign affairs representative in Paris to discuss the spiralling tensions in the Middle East.

The United States said Thursday it was still working for a landmark normalization deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia. The United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco normalized relations with Israel in 2020 -- the first Arab states to do so since Egypt and Jordan decades earlier. But Saudi Arabia is seen as a key prize for Israel due to its role as guardian of Islam's two holiest cities and its weight within the Arab and Islamic worlds.