Donald Trump‘s Arab allies have reacted to his demand that they recognize Israel as part of an Iran peace deal with silence, alarm and even laughter, sources have revealed.
Officials in Muslim-majority countries flatly dismissed Trump’s push to expand the Abraham Accords, his signature first-term deal that normalized Arab ties with Israel.
But other insiders suggested Trump’s demand was a shrewd gambit aimed at appeasing hawkish Republicans who fear the President is ceding too much to Tehran.
‘It is a smart tactic to calm down the angry base,’ an Arab diplomat told Politico. ‘He will keep bringing it up again and again. But it will not be part of the deal.’
Trump was met by stunned silence on a Saturday conference call with leaders from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, Egypt and Pakistan, when he told them an Iran peace deal hinged on their countries recognizing Israel.
After a long pause, the President joked nervously: ‘Are they still there?’
One former US official sent mock congratulations to his Arab government contacts on joining the Abraham Accords, only to receive laughter emojis in reply, Politico reported.
Arab officials view Trump’s ultimatum as a ‘poison pill’ that ‘creates new conditions for peace that neither Iran nor the states in question will accept,’ the former diplomat added.
Donald Trump (L) and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (R) attend the Keynote Address at the Saudi-US Investment Forum in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, May 13, 2025
White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, right, walks with Ivanka Trump at the Royal Court Palace, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in May, 2017. The Abraham Accords were brokered by Trump’s son-in-law in 2020
A second former US official described the mood across Middle East governments as one of ‘disbelief and frustration.’
The White House pushed back, insisting the Abraham Accords had been a resounding success since Trump struck them in his first term, deepening both diplomatic and economic ties across the region.
‘The Abraham Accords have provided massive economic benefits to all countries involved and enabled historic cooperation, so this would be a natural complement to a peace deal between the United States and Iran,’ Anna Kelly said.
The new demand lands at a precarious moment in the negotiations, with US forces carrying out fresh strikes on Iranian missile sites and mine-laying boats on Monday as Israel ramped up its offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Oil prices tumbled 4 percent on Wednesday amid reports by Iranian state TV that the deal’s framework included reopening the Strait of Hormuz, with global benchmark Brent crude sliding to $95 per barrel.
Trump convenes his Cabinet at 11am to thrash out next steps, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio warning talks could drag on for days.
‘He’s either going to make a good deal or no deal,’ Rubio told reporters on Tuesday.
Trump is racing to finalize a deal after weeks of stalemate, with the Strait of Hormuz still locked down by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard.
The war is bleeding into the November midterms, with soaring gas prices sending Trump’s approval ratings into a tailspin.
He is also fending off Republican hawks who warn the emerging terms look dangerously close to the 2015 Obama pact Trump spent years slamming as ‘the worst deal in history.’
The Abraham Accords, brokered by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner in 2020, normalized ties between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan, marking the first formal Arab recognition of the Jewish state since Jordan in 1994.
Saudi Arabia, long seen as the crown jewel of any expansion of the accords, has insisted it will not normalize relations with Israel without a credible pathway to a Palestinian state, a condition Israel has flatly rejected.
A November 2022 poll found 76 percent of Saudis viewed the Abraham Accords negatively, and opposition has only hardened since the Gaza war.
