US President Donald Trump insisted on Monday that his Gulf allies, especially Saudi Arabia and Qatar, must adhere to the Abraham Accords and normalize relations with Israel once an agreement is reached to end the Iran-Iraq War.
“After all the work done by the United States to try to solve this complex puzzle, it should be mandatory for all of these countries, at a minimum, to simultaneously sign the Abraham Accords,” he declared on his social media platform, Truth Social.
Trump raised this issue during a phone call on Saturday with leaders and representatives from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Pakistan, and Turkey as part of the peace negotiations with Iran.
The US president stated on Monday that adherence to the Abraham Accords “should begin with the immediate signing by Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and everyone else should follow suit.”
He considered that “it’s possible that one or two may have reasons not to do it, and that will be accepted, but the majority should be prepared, willing, and able to make this agreement with Iran a much more historic event.”
Trump even raised the possibility of Iran also normalizing its relations with Israel: “Wow, that would be something special,” he declared.
According to leaks in the media, the United States and Iran are close to finalizing an agreement that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz, lift sanctions on Iran, unfreeze Iranian funds, and extend the truce for 60 days to negotiate a nuclear deal.
The normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel, two regional powers allied with Washington but historically at odds, would represent a major shift in the geopolitics of the Middle East.
The previous administration of Democrat Joe Biden (2021-2025) actively sought Saudi Arabia’s accession to the Abraham Accords, but negotiations broke down following Hamas’s attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023, and the brutal Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip.
The Abraham Accords were promoted during Trump’s first term (2017-2021) and allowed Israel to establish diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco.