Policy Assessment, Progress Center for Policies
Introduction
While observers — particularly in the Middle East — are focused on the ambiguous terms of the framework agreement being drafted between Iran and the United States, President Donald Trump has been demanding that regional states join the Abraham Accords with Israel, framing this as a direct outcome of the war against Iran and its consequences within the anticipated deal. What occasioned these demands, and what has changed to prompt the American president to push a request that the relevant states had previously refused or attached conditions to?
Key Facts
On 25 May 2026, President Trump posted on Truth Social calling on Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and other countries to immediately join the Abraham Accords, describing this as “mandatory” and part of any deal with Iran to end the war.
Trump stated that he had spoken with leaders of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, and Bahrain over the weekend, and insisted that “after all the work the United States has done to put this complex puzzle together, signing the Abraham Accords must be mandatory.” He specifically named Saudi Arabia and Qatar as those who must go first, with others to follow, warning that refusal would signal “bad faith.” He even suggested that if Iran signed the deal, it would be an “honor” for it to join.
Two days before the post, on 23 May, Trump held a group call to discuss the potential deal with Iran. Reports indicated that he raised the normalization demand during this call, provoking silence and astonishment among the leaders involved — particularly those of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Pakistan, which have no formal diplomatic relations with Israel.
The positions of the states addressed by Trump are as follows. Saudi Arabia has repeatedly affirmed, including in statements by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, that no genuine agreement is possible with the current Netanyahu government without a clear commitment to the Palestinian cause; Riyadh conditions normalization on tangible progress toward an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital. Qatar maintains relations with all parties but has shown no immediate readiness for full normalization with Israel. The UAE and Bahrain are already linked to Israel through the 2020 Abraham Accords. Egypt and Jordan have longstanding peace agreements with Israel (Camp David 1978, Wadi Araba 1994), but are unenthusiastic about any compulsory extension of the peace framework Trump envisions. Turkey and Pakistan hold more complex positions due to their Islamic orientations and historical support for the Palestinian cause.
Analysis
Analysts believe Trump’s demand arrived entirely out of context, inserted into a call originally intended to inform regional leaders about the content of the US–Iran agreement or to consult them on it. The silence and surprise that reportedly greeted the normalization request were not related to the substance of the demand itself, but to its occasion and placement within the purpose of the call. Analysts also note that the positions of the relevant states are clear and settled, and were never going to shift as a result of a phone call, especially in the ambiguous circumstances of a war and its potential outcomes.
Analysts conclude that Trump raised the issue for other purposes, and that the states involved recognized this and had no interest in engaging with it.
Diplomatic sources suggest Trump needed to deflect responsibility for any potential failure to achieve his stated objectives regarding Iran, shifting some of the blame onto the region. He also needed to open the peace file as an exit ramp from the war file. These sources add that Trump was attempting to appease Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, following Israeli reports in which Netanyahu — after a call with Trump — described the prospective deal with Iran as a bad one.
American observers note that through the normalization issue, Trump was seeking to placate pro-Israel figures within the Republican Party (such as Lindsey Graham) and within Congress, who had sharply criticized the emerging contours of the Washington–Tehran deal. These observers summarize the predicament as Trump’s attempt to pivot instantly from a historic setback to a historic achievement by pursuing hasty normalization agreements in a high-handed manner — treating them as “mandatory” — while likely setting the stage to later express anger at the region’s ingratitude for his war against Iran.
Research bodies assessed that Trump’s motives and maneuvering revolve around three axes. First, marketing an achievement to cover any potential disappointment from a non-comprehensive Iran deal, drawing on his 2020 track record of brokering normalization agreements with the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco. Second, exerting strategic pressure by exploiting Iran’s post-war weakness to impose a regional coalition against it that includes both Arab states and Israel. Third, re-spotlighting a personal legacy — by improvising a narrative that frames the Iran war within the context of comprehensive regional peace, which in turn requires expanding normalization agreements and reinforcing his image as a peacemaker.
Conclusions
In reaching out to regional leaders — a call primarily intended to inform them of the headlines of the forthcoming Washington–Tehran agreement — Trump sought to inject the question of normalization with Israel into a context where it had no natural place.
His invitation for these states to join the Abraham Accords came both in a direct group call with some of the key leaders involved, and through a post addressed to the international public.
American media reported widespread silence and astonishment during the call in response to Trump’s request; observers attributed this to the fact that the subject arose entirely outside the call’s stated context and purpose, and without any apparent reason.
Given Trump’s specific naming of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, it is believed that the real target of his demand — in both the post and the call — was Saudi Arabia in particular, and that he attempted to advance the matter by surrounding it with a larger group of countries.
Observers expressed surprise at a demand Trump already knew the answer to, particularly from Saudi Arabia, which has explicitly conditioned normalization on a pathway to Palestinian statehood.
Observers were equally surprised that a shift of this magnitude was being discussed through a public post and a group phone call — let alone that an artificial link was being drawn between the Iran war and regional peace with Israel.
It is believed Trump sought to placate Israel and its supporters, including within the Republican Party, who had strongly criticized the anticipated Iran deal.
It is believed Trump sought to escape from the bind of the Iran war by manufacturing a peace crisis with Israel — one through which he could then assign the region responsibility for failing to achieve it.
