President Joe Biden’s administration is trying to finalize a “complicated” agreement to establish diplomatic ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel and shore up U.S. security ties with the Gulf Arab state as a hedge against China's encroachment in the Middle East.

“It’s complicated, and to land all of these different pieces, it takes a tremendous amount of work,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday during an MSNBC broadcast. “We’re in the middle of it. It’s still a challenge.”

That agreement offers the hope of a watershed change in Israel’s relations with the Arab world, with the added potential to enhance security coordination between two traditional U.S. allies in the Middle East. And while Blinken emphasized the difficulty of that effort — his team has tried to temper expectations in recent weeks — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government thinks it could reach a successful conclusion by early 2024.

"The gaps can be bridged. It will take time. But there is progress," Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen told Israeli Army Radio on Thursday. "I think there is certainly a likelihood that, in the first quarter of 2024, four or five months hence, we will be able to be at a point where the details are finalized.”