(Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com) President Donald Trump said in a long post on Truth Social on Monday that it should be “mandatory” for Arab and Muslim states to join the Abraham Accords to normalize relations with Israel as part of any Iran deal, and threatened that if the condition isn’t met, full-scale war will resume “bigger and stronger than ever before.”
Insisting on more Muslim countries joining the Abraham Accords as a condition for an Iran deal would likely ensure that an agreement won’t be reached, as the Gulf Arab states that haven’t normalized relations with Israel, which include Qatar, Oman, and Saudi Arabia, have long maintained they won’t do so unless the issue of Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories is resolved.
After Trump’s post, a Saudi official told CNN that Riyadh won’t normalize with Israel until an “irreversible pathway” toward a Palestinian state is established.
The president said in his post that a potential agreement with Iran will “only be a Great Deal for all or, no Deal at all — Back to the Battlefront and shooting, but bigger and stronger than ever before — And nobody wants that!”
Trump said that during talks on Saturday with the leaders of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, and Jordan, he told them that “after all the work done by the United States to try and pull this very complex puzzle together, it should be mandatory that all of these Countries, at a minimum, simultaneously, sign onto the Abraham Accords.”
According to a report from Axios, when Trump made the proposal during the call, he was met with silence. “There was silence on the line and Trump joked and asked if they are still there,” an unnamed US official told Axios reporter Barak Ravid. CNN reported that Trump made the comment “in passing” and that it was not met with a response or acknowledgment from the leaders on the call.
Trump said in his post that the countries that he discussed joining the Abraham Accords include “Saudi Arabia, The United Arab Emirates (already a Member!), Qatar, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, and Bahrain (already a Member!).” He said that it may be “possible that one or two have a reason for not doing so, and that will be accepted, but most should be ready, willing, and able to make this Settlement with Iran a far more Historic Event than it would, otherwise, be.”
Trump added that Saudi Arabia and Qatar should sign a deal to normalize with Israel “immediately” and that other countries should follow suit, and even suggested that Iran could join the Abraham Accords. “By copy of this TRUTH, I am asking my Representatives to begin, and successfully complete, the process of signing these Countries into the already Historic Abraham Accords. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” he concluded.
This article originally appeared at Antiwar.com.
