Trump links Iran deal to expanded Abraham Accords with new countries

Donald Trump is trying to fold two of the Middle East’s most consequential negotiations into one: any Iran agreement, he has said, should also expand the Abraham Accords. The pitch turns normalization with Israel into a condition of the Iran track, raising the stakes for Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt and Jordan while giving the White House a larger regional bargain to sell.

The strategy rests on a framework that was formally signed on September 15, 2020, when the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain normalized relations with Israel. Morocco later signed a normalization agreement on December 10, 2020, and Sudan also joined the Accords framework. The U.S. Department of State has described the UAE-Israel treaty as part of a broader effort to expand diplomatic, trade and stability cooperation through a “Strategic Agenda for the Middle East,” which is now serving as the template for Trump’s latest push.

NBC News reported that Trump said any Iran agreement should require additional countries, including Saudi Arabia and Turkey, to join the Accords, with Qatar, Pakistan, Egypt and Jordan also on his list. Axios reported that Trump told leaders of several Arab and Muslim countries in a Saturday conference call that he wanted them to sign peace agreements with Israel if a deal ending the Iran war is reached. That approach gives Trump leverage with Israel and its regional partners, but it also adds another condition to talks already facing resistance from conservatives and Iran skeptics who see the normalization demand as a distraction or an unnecessary complication.

The appeal of the strategy is clear. Saudi Arabia remains the biggest prize in any broader regional realignment, and bringing in states such as Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Pakistan or Turkey would deepen the political reach of the Accords far beyond their original Gulf base. But each of those countries carries different strategic and domestic costs, especially for a deal meant to stabilize the region after war with Iran.

Trump’s team has also kept the Abraham Accords active as a living policy, not a closed chapter. A White House release earlier in 2026 said Kazakhstan became the first country in Trump’s second term to join the Accords, and the State Department sent Congress a report in May 2026 titled A Strategy to Expand the Historic Abraham Accords. That makes the current effort look less like an ad hoc bargaining tactic than a deliberate attempt to use normalization as the central currency of a wider Middle East settlement.