U.S. President Donald Trump said on May 25 that Türkiye, Saudi Arabia and other regional powers must normalize ties with Israel as part of efforts to reach a deal with Iran, adding fresh uncertainty into protracted peace negotiations.
The U.S. leader said it should be mandatory for Türkiye, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Pakistan, Egypt and Jordan to sign up to the Abraham Accords, a set of agreements brokered in 2020 with nations historically hostile to Israel.
“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,” he wrote in a lengthy social media post.
Trump said he had spoken to the leaders of those countries on May 23 about efforts to end the war with Iran. Bahrain and the UAE have already signed the accords, along with Morocco and Sudan.
The issue is fraught as countries like Gulf heavyweights Saudi Arabia and Qatar have said they will never normalize ties with Israel unless an independent Palestinian state is created.
Türkiye has diplomatic relations with Israel, but the ties have been strained since the outbreak of the Gaza war.
