Key facts
- President Trump is attempting to broker a deal to end the conflict in Iran.
- The initiative involves securing support from several Middle Eastern and South Asian nations.
- Trump proposed linking the Iran negotiations to an expansion of the Abraham Accords.
- The response from regional leaders regarding the Abraham Accords expansion was lukewarm.
President Trump is actively pursuing a comprehensive agreement to resolve the conflict in Iran, seeking to leverage support from leaders across the Middle East and South Asia. During a late-month conference call from the Situation Room, Trump pitched a deal he believed was close to fruition, requesting individual endorsements from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Bahrain, and Pakistan. Officials briefed on the call indicated Trump felt these nations should be indebted to him for addressing Iran.
However, Trump's ambition extended beyond a simple Iran accord. He proposed integrating the negotiations with a significant expansion of the U.S.-brokered Abraham Accords, which normalized relations between Israel and several Arab nations and which Trump considers a key foreign policy success. He urged countries that had not yet joined the accords to do so, but this aspect of the proposal was met with a less than enthusiastic reception.