Israel’s prime minister has greenlighted work to begin on planned railroad network that will connect Israel to Saudi Arabia, Israeli state-run TV reported on Saturday.

According to a translation of the report by The New Arab’s Arabic-language service, Benjamin Netanyahu and Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz have agreed to “immediately launch” the project.

Israel greenlights 'Hejaz railway' link to Saudi Arabia: Israel state TV https://t.co/P4O05gR3QC pic.twitter.com/6HnPS7xBGL — Middle East News (@WartaTimteng) June 24, 2018

The report said:

“The channel’s political pundit Dennis Weiss stressed that the administration of US President Donald Trump supports the project. Weiss added that it will strengthen relations with ‘moderate nations’ in the region and fight the threat of Iran.”

Under the proposal, goods could travel by rail from Israel’s port of Haifa through Jordan to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states.

Katz last year spoke to Saudi-funded news website Elaph about the freight railway network, saying he wanted to revive the historic Hejaz railway.

DI tengah2 konflik palestine, saudi -Israel makin mesra >> Tel Aviv seeks revival of Hejaz railway track to link Israel with the Gulf by @TRTWorld https://t.co/LuiemR8OGt — Nasrudin (@nasrudin_nur) April 19, 2018

He said:

“As you can see this regional project will link trains to Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.”

He added that the project will also give Palestinians greater access to Haifa’s port, with a station in the northern West Bank city of Jenin.

The report is the latest in a series showing warming ties between Israel and Gulf states that are increasingly coming out in the open as they find common cause against mutual foe Iran.

(Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, PC, Social Media)