AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): According to an Axios report, Trump spoke on Saturday with the leaders of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, and Bahrain, and the main focus of these calls was to discuss a potential agreement to end the Iran war. Two American officials cited by Axios said that Trump emphasized in these calls that after the war ends, he expects countries that do not yet have a peace agreement or formal relations with Israel to join the normalization process.
Axios writes that Trump is particularly seeking to achieve a historic agreement between Saudi Arabia and the Israeli regime, although the current political situation in the region and the upcoming elections in Israel have made reaching such an agreement difficult in the short term.
According to the report, some regional leaders, including UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed, have supported a potential agreement with Iran. One American official said that the leaders on the call told Trump, "We are with you in this agreement, and even if it fails, we will still be by your side."
According to the American media outlet, Trump's request for Islamic countries in the region to join the Abraham Accords, particularly Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Pakistan, which have no formal relations with Israel, caught them by surprise. One American official said that after this request was made, "silence" fell over the call for moments, and Trump jokingly asked those present if they were still on the line.
The Axios report adds that Trump then announced that his envoys, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, would follow up on this matter in the coming weeks. Trump also thanked Middle Eastern countries for their support and cooperation with the United States on his social media platform on Sunday, claiming that the joining of more countries to the Abraham Accords could strengthen these cooperations.
Meanwhile, Republican U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham has supported Trump's request, stating that if Arab and Islamic countries join the Abraham Accords as a result of the negotiations related to ending the Iran war, this agreement could become one of the most significant developments in Middle Eastern history. He also warned that opposing this path could have consequences for the future relations of these countries with the United States.
Axios, in its report, referred to Saudi Arabia's position, writing that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had previously shown a desire to normalize relations with Israel but has adopted more cautious stances over the past year. According to the media outlet, Saudi Arabia still emphasizes that any normalization of relations with Israel must be conditional on Tel Aviv's clear and irreversible commitment to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state—a condition that the current Israeli regime rejects.
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