Trump: Signing ceremony will be announced soon

Kazakhstan, which already has relations with Israel, to join Abraham Accords

Post-Soviet state in Central Asia will be fifth country to sign, in bid to build momentum for normalization framework between Israel and Arab, Muslim-majority states

US President Donald Trump announced Thursday that the Central Asian, Muslim-majority country of Kazakhstan will be the first country to join the Abraham Accords in his second term.

Trump made the announcement in a Truth Social post that he said was published just after he wrapped up a phone call on the matter with Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“This is a major step forward in building bridges across the World. Today, more nations are lining up to embrace peace and prosperity through my Abraham Accords,” Trump said.

“We will soon announce a signing ceremony to make it official, and there are many more countries trying to join this club of STRENGTH,” he continued. “So much more to come in uniting countries for stability and growth — real progress, real results. BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS!”

US special envoy Steve Witkoff previewed the announcement earlier Thursday, without revealing the identity of the newest member of the Abraham Accords, which were brokered in 2020 by the first Trump administration between Israel and several of its Arab and Muslim neighbors.

But the development announced by Trump appeared relatively limited in scope, given that Kazakhstan already has ties with Israel, having established diplomatic relations with the Jewish state in 1992, shortly after it broke away from the Soviet Union.

The Trump administration believes that adding the Muslim-majority country to the Abraham Accords will revive momentum for the initiative, which took a major hit as a result of the Gaza war, a US official told The Times of Israel.

“It will become the alliance for Arab-Muslim ties with Israel,” the US official said, acknowledging that Washington no longer wants to limit membership in the accords to countries that haven’t previously had ties with Israel.

The US has sought, across administrations, for Saudi Arabia to join the accords, and the Trump administration has floated Syria joining as well under its new leadership. Neither of those countries has formal ties with Israel, and Syria has fought multiple wars against it.

In a later statement, Kazakhstan said it was “natural and logical” for it to join the Abraham Accords.

“Our anticipated accession to the Abraham Accords represents a natural and logical continuation of Kazakhstan’s foreign policy course — grounded in dialogue, mutual respect, and regional stability,” the country’s government said in a statement.

Trump hosted Tokayev at the White House Thursday evening, along with the leaders of four other Central Asian countries, as Washington seeks to expand its influence in the region.

During the meeting, Trump was pressed by reporters on the significance of Kazakhstan joining the Abraham Accords, given that the country has held ties with Israel for over three decades.

Trump asked US Vice President JD Vance to answer the question, and the latter explained that, “What the president has done is signal that the momentum of the Abraham Accords is alive and well in the second administration. It’s not just going to be Kazakhstan, but also a number of other countries that join in the months to come.”

Chiming in, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Abraham Accords go beyond bilateral relationships between Israel and the member countries.

“You’re now creating a partnership that brings special and unique economic development on all sorts of issues… The strength of it is to have majority Muslim countries and the Jewish state able to partner on things to show the world that it is possible,” Rubio said.

Asked whether he’ll discuss the Abraham Accords with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa when the latter visits the White House on Monday, Trump avoided answering directly.

Instead, he reiterated that Sharaa is doing a “very good job” in a “tough neighborhood,” which is why he chose to remove US sanctions over Damascus.

In August, Reuters reported that the Trump administration was eyeing Azerbaijan as the next country to join the Abraham Accords, along with other Central Asian US allies. Like Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan already has longstanding relations with Israel.

Kazakhstan has a population of roughly 20 million and is one of the largest countries in the world by land area. While most of its population is Muslim, it is not an officially Muslim country, unlike other signatories of the Abraham Accords such as the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco.

An organization that monitors international textbooks for discrimination and intolerance found this year that textbooks used in schools in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Azerbaijan offer generally fair and even positive depictions of the Jewish people.