Trump ramps up push for Gulf states, Iran to join Abraham Accords after peace deal

Donald Trump said he urged leaders from several Muslim-majority nations to sign the Abraham Accords during high-level talks on Iran. He also warned that failure to secure a deal with Tehran could push the region back towards a far bigger conflict.

In Short

• Arab leaders were reportedly caught off guard by Trump's proposal
• Trump says Iran could eventually join Abraham Accords framework
• Trump links Iran peace settlement to wider Israel normalisation

US President Donald Trump has intensified pressure on Gulf nations and Iran to join the Abraham Accords, linking the future of a potential peace agreement with Tehran to a big diplomatic reshuffle across the Middle East.

In a lengthy Truth Social post, Trump said ongoing negotiations with Iran were "proceeding nicely" but warned that failure to reach a deal could send the region back to the "battlefront and shooting, but bigger and stronger than ever before".

The remarks came after Trump held a phone call with several leaders from Muslim countries, including Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Qatar's Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Pakistan Army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.

TRUMP WANTS MANDATORY ABRAHAM ACCORDS EXPANSION

Trump said he told the leaders that countries involved in the discussions "should be mandatory" signatories to the Abraham Accords if a peace settlement with Iran is achieved.

The US President argued that the Abraham Accords -- originally brokered during his first term -- had delivered a "Financial, Economic, and Social BOOM" for countries already involved, including the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan and Kazakhstan.

"It should start with the immediate signing by Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and everybody else should follow suit," Trump wrote.

He also floated the possibility of Iran itself becoming part of the agreement if Tehran finalises a peace deal with Washington.

"In speaking to numerous of the Great Leaders mentioned above, they would be honoured, as soon as our Document is signed, to have the Islamic Republic of Iran as part of the Abraham Accords," Trump said.

The Abraham Accords, signed in 2020, normalised diplomatic ties between Israel and several Arab nations. However, major regional powers such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Pakistan have so far avoided formal recognition of Israel, largely due to the unresolved Palestinian issue.

Trump's latest diplomatic gamble appears aimed at turning an Iran peace deal into a Middle East realignment, one that could pull regional powers into a new US-backed order highly beneficial to Israel.

TRUMP CAUGHT LEADERS OFF GUARD

According to a report by Axios, Trump's proposal during the high-level conference call was met with silence from several leaders. The report said leaders from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Pakistan -- which do not maintain formal diplomatic relations with Israel -- appeared caught off guard by the suggestion.

"One of the US officials said Trump joked and asked if they were still there," Axios reported.

Taking a step further, the US President also claimed his administration had already directed representatives to begin work on bringing more countries into the framework.

Iran's inclusion in any such framework, though highly unlikely, would mark an even more dramatic shift given Tehran's long-running conflict with Israel.

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With inputs from agencies