Trump pushes Saudi Arabia and Qatar to recognize Israel as part of Iran deal framework
The president called normalization with Israel 'mandatory' for any agreement reached with Iran, but key players aren't exactly rushing to sign.
Share
Add us on Google by Editorial Team May. 25, 2026President Donald Trump is attempting to tie two of the Middle East’s most intractable diplomatic puzzles into a single knot. In a Truth Social post on May 25, he urged Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and other Muslim-majority nations to join the Abraham Accords and formally recognize Israel, framing the move as a prerequisite for any deal emerging from ongoing Iran negotiations.
The word he used was “mandatory.”
The conference call that started it all
Two days before the public push, on May 23, Trump held a conference call with leaders from eight nations: Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, Bahrain, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, and Jordan. The topic was Iran, and Trump described the negotiations as progressing favorably.
Trump is essentially conditioning the Iran framework on a massive expansion of the Abraham Accords, the normalization agreements between Israel and several Arab nations that were first brokered during his first term in office.
AdvertisementThe original Accords, signed in 2020, brought the UAE and Bahrain into formal diplomatic relationships with Israel. Sudan and Morocco followed. But the crown jewel was always Saudi Arabia, the largest economy in the Arab world and the custodian of Islam’s two holiest sites.
Saudi Arabia and Qatar aren’t saying yes
Both Saudi Arabia and Qatar have maintained a consistent position: any normalization with Israel requires an “irreversible path” to a Palestinian state.
Pakistan went further. Islamabad publicly rejected the proposal for normalization with Israel outright.
Senator Lindsey Graham called Trump’s approach “simply brilliant.”
As of May 25, Israel itself had not publicly responded to Trump’s push.
The Abraham Accords strategy, round two
The Abraham Accords were arguably the signature foreign policy achievement of Trump’s first term. They broke decades of Arab consensus that normalization with Israel should only come after a resolution to the Palestinian conflict. The UAE and Bahrain essentially decided that their strategic interests, particularly around countering Iran and accessing Israeli technology, outweighed waiting for a Palestinian deal.
By linking normalization to the Iran negotiations, Trump is creating a framework where countries feel pressure to join from multiple directions. It’s a classic negotiating tactic: bundle everything together so walking away from one piece means walking away from all of it.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
