Trump: Iran deal should include more countries joining Abraham Accords

WASHINGTON (AP):

President Donald Trump said yesterday that any agreement with Iran should include a requirement for several additional countries, including Saudi Arabia and Turkey, to join the Abraham Accords, the US-brokered agreements aimed at normalising relations with Israel that were forged during Trump’s first term.

In a social media post, Trump said negotiations are “proceeding nicely” but tied any eventual agreement to expanded participation in the accords first signed in 2020.

He pointed to Saudi Arabia and Qatar as countries that should “immediately” sign on, followed by Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt and Jordan. Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates were the first countries to join in 2020.

He wrote 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.”

The president said he brought up the Abraham Accords plan with leaders during negotiations on Saturday.

Trump suggested he may accept “one or two” countries declining to sign, but said most should be willing. Egypt and Jordan already formally recognise Israel and have long-standing peace treaties.

It remains unclear when or how any deal with Iran might be completed, or how Abraham Accords membership might affect such an agreement. He suggested even Iran could eventually sign on if an agreement is reached.

The accords are a series of diplomatic, economic and security agreements created with US influence during Trump’s first term, originally between Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, followed by Sudan, Morocco and, more recently, Kazakhstan.

They were framed as an effort to promote cooperation among countries in the Middle East and North Africa, and the administration saw them as partly paving a path towards full ties with Israel.