(JNS) Israel is closer than it has ever been to a peace agreement with Saudi Arabia, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said on Monday, July 31.

In an interview with Channel 12, the country’s top diplomat said that the door for a U.S.-brokered deal between Jerusalem and Riyadh would remain open until the U.S. election season kicks into high gear in March.

While he said it was too early to comment on specific concessions Israel might have to make for an agreement, he noted that convincing Saudi Arabia to join the Abraham Accords was not only an Israeli interest, but also an American one.

On Sunday, however, Likud lawmaker Yuli Edelstein, head of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, in an interview with Army Radio, said, “It’s too early to talk about a deal being in the works.”