Iran War: Trump Nudges Envoy Witkoff To Get Arab Nations To Join Accords | WION

Added: 2026-05-28

[00:00:00]What do the G countries or US President Donald Trump? That is a question which now casts the shadow of a negotiations with Iran which are already at a delicate stage.

[00:00:12]But this week, a new dimension added by Trump has altered the stakes not just for US or Iran but for other countries in West Asia. Speaking during a high stakes cabinet meeting at White House, Trump expressed deep skepticism about finalizing a peace treaty with Thran unless Saudi Arabia and other major Gulf powers formally agree to normalize relations with Israel. Trump eyeing a grand bargain to calm the turbulent West Asia has named five countries that already have relations with Israel along with Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Pakistan which are considered highly unlikely to take such a step. However, the US president believes the countries owe it to the US.

[00:01:00]We'd like to have them immediately join the and Steve Woodco is working on that with Jared and some others, but we'd like to have them join the Abraham Accords. It'll be historic if they do it and we would I think they I think they owe that to us to be honest. I think because that really would be a tremendous sign and I think those countries owe it to us.

[00:01:20]>> Mr. President, >> Steve, are you going to get them to sign?

[00:01:24]>> Uh, we're definitely pushing it, Mr. President.

[00:01:27]The US president kept talking about how great the deal would be for so many countries in the region for Saudi Arabia, for Qatar and Kuwait among others.

[00:01:41]>> I'm not sure I'm not sure we should make the deal if they don't sign. You want to know the >> if they don't sign to join the Abraham Accords, I don't know that we you know we have countries in there already. uh UAE, great great countries, bold countries, and it's turned out to be so good, so effective, and uh so we're, you know, requesting strongly that they they join. It'll be great. It'd be great for Saudi Arabia. It' be great for Qar and Kuwait.

[00:02:12]Washington broke at the Abraham Accords during Trump's first presidential term, seeking to build bridges between Israel and the Gulf countries. The UAE, Bahrain, and Morocco are ready signitories, establishing diplomatic, economic, and security ties. Trump's latest push also raises questions on what exactly it is that G nations or the American president. It is well known that the US has its military bases across West Asia with some of its most substantial military presence in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, and others. These bases host 40 to 50,000 US troops in total. Many Arab nations also have US defense systems like the TAD installed as part of a unified air defense network in that region.

[00:02:59]It is these very systems and bases that also came under attack during Iran's retaliation. Now that with Iran peace talks hanging by a threat. The president has thrown normalization with Israel as a new condition for America's own allies in West Asia. The concern now is how will Arab allies of the US react to this demand and if it has the potential to derail talks with Iran.

[00:03:32]And joining us live on this broadcast is Mr. Georgio Cafiro. He's a professor at Georgetown University and CEO G State Analytics is now joining us live from Washington DC. It's good to see you Mr. Cafiro and thank you very much for your time. Quick question, do you think President Donald Trump is untwisting or forcing GCC nations?

[00:03:56]Well, first of all, thank you so much for having me back on your network.

[00:03:59]Always good to be with you. My best regards to all your viewers. Uh I think Donald Trump is trying to uh continue uh with his agenda of expanding the scope of the Abraham Accords. He seems to think that this is a unique opportunity right now to bring more Arab Muslim majority countries into the Abraham Accords. But I think this is completely unrealistic. If Trump genuinely believes that he um that the United States is going to have success in terms of bringing more Gulf countries as well as Pakistan into the Israeli normalization camp, I have to say there is really a serious element of delusion that we're looking at here uh with the US president for many reasons. I think that these countries are not going to want to normalize with Israel under current conditions.

[00:04:56]>> And I think that actually these countries understand that if they were to normalize with Israel, this would intensify the friction in their relationships with Iran. And for a whole host of reasons, I think a number of countries in the neighborhood are going to try to find ways to accommodate Iran.

[00:05:16]as difficult as that is going to be which further decreases the chances of them agreeing to normalize with Israel at this point.

[00:05:26]>> Professor Cafiro, let me ask you this then. Pakistan has already said we are out. We are not joining the Abraham Accords. That has been left to the president to decide. Now there's the UAE. There's Saudi Arabia and then there's Kuwait. They've not reacted to President Trump's demand. How do you think they will react? Will they join the Abraham Accords just to please Trump? And if they don't join the Abraham Accords now, President Trump says there are repercussions. What repercussions do you think those are?

[00:06:02]Well, just to be clear, the UAE has been in the Abraham Accords since 2020. So I think its position is uh significantly different compared to the other countries you just mentioned. We need to understand that for Saudi Arabia, the leadership in Riyad has been crystal clear that any movement toward normalization with Israel is going to require the establishment of a Palestinian state or at least irreversible steps toward the establishment of a Palestinian state.

[00:06:37]That is not something that we can imagine with the current leadership in Israel right now. And obviously after years of genocide in Gaza, the question of Israeli normalization is very toxic inside Saudi society. And at the end of the day, the Saudi leadership cannot ignore public opinion on such an important issue. I think if Saudi Arabia were to normalize with Israel under pressure from Washington right now, that could actually pose a threat to stability inside the kingdom. That's the last thing Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman wants right now. So, it's just simply a non-starter, this question of Saudi Israeli normalization, at least in this current period.

[00:07:28]I do believe that these countries will be willing to accept the risks in whatever form they take uh in terms of backlash from the United States. But I think this is an important point here that will do much to further inform their perspective that the United States is not a force for stability in the region >> and not an ally or a partner that the GCC states can count on. And this also needs to be understood within the context of Trump recently threatening to quote unquote blow up Oman.

[00:08:07]What I'm getting at here is that the Trump administration's absolute absolutely reckless moves in recent weeks, recent months, I think is going to change the way GCC states look at the United States as a security partner and there will be major ramifications for USGCC relations throughout the future.

[00:08:31]>> Professor Kafi, it's good to see you.

[00:08:32]We'll have to end this discussion here.

[00:08:34]Thank you very much for your insights and for talking to us today.

[00:08:37]Good to be with you.