Turkey and Saudi Arabia aim to build a railway to link the two countries with Jordan and Syria in the next three or four years, Turkish Transport Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu said on Sunday, adding that other Gulf countries would also join the project.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Uraloglu said the railway would help alleviate future instances of the problems that have arisen from the disruption of the Strait of Hormuz caused by the war in Iran.

The project was described in a memorandum of understanding that Ankara and Riyadh signed last week on logistics cooperation and the railway sector.

Ankara boasted at the time that the project would bypass Israel and diminish its regional influence. Supporters of the Saudi monarchy also noted that the project dealt a “fatal blow” to a 2023 US-Israeli plan to link India with the Middle East, Israel and Europe. The plan hinged on Israeli-Saudi normalization, which remains distant, with Riyadh demanding irreversible progress toward Palestinian statehood, which Israel rejects.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Uraloglu said a rail link would, in its initial phase, allow for the transport of goods, oil, natural gas, and people between Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Jordan, Syria, and Europe.

He........

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