Trump aims for ‘historic return’ to region, taking in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, not Israel
US president’s first Middle East visit since returning to office comes amid talks with Iran and as he looks to sign a deal with the Saudis, but Israel is notably not on the agenda
US President Donald Trump heads for Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates on Monday, eyeing big business deals even as accords on the Middle East’s hotspots will be harder to seal.
While Israel’s war against Gaza terror groups and Iran’s nuclear program will loom large over Trump’s first major foreign trip of his second term, the White House said he looked forward to a “historic return” to the region.
Eight years ago, Trump also chose Riyadh for his first overseas trip as president — when he memorably posed over a glowing orb with the leaders of Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
His decision to once more bypass traditional Western allies to visit the oil-rich Gulf states underscores their increasingly pivotal geopolitical role — as well as his own business ties there.
“It’s hard for me to escape the idea that President Trump is going to the Gulf because this is his happy place,” said Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
“His hosts will be generous and hospitable. They’ll be keen to make deals. They’ll flatter him and not criticize him, and they’ll treat his family members as past and future business partners.”
‘Historic return’
Riyadh, Doha and Abu Dhabi are expected to pull out all the stops for Trump, who’s making his first major overseas trip after briefly attending the funeral of Pope Francis in Rome. His visit is due to begin on May 13 in Riyadh.
The wealthy Arab states will mix pomp and ceremony for the 78-year-old billionaire with deals that could span defense, aviation, energy and artificial intelligence.
“The president looks forward to embarking on his historic return to the Middle East” to promote a vision where “extremism is defeated [through] commerce and cultural exchanges,” spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said Friday.
But he will not be able to avoid the long list of regional crises, including the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, the Houthi rebels in Yemen, and Syria’s post-Assad turmoil.
The Gulf states have played a key diplomatic role under Trump 2.0. Qatar has been a major broker between Hamas and Israel, while Saudi Arabia has facilitated talks on the war in Ukraine.
“Trump is coming to the Gulf first because this region has become a geopolitical and financial center of gravity,” Anna Jacobs, non-resident fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, told AFP.
In Riyadh, Trump will meet the leaders of the six Gulf Cooperation Council states: Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Oman.
But one place that is not on the itinerary is Israel, the United States’ closest ally in the region.
That has sparked speculation about tensions between Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israel has set Trump’s trip as the deadline for a ceasefire deal with Hamas before launching a planned major offensive in Gaza.
Trump has, however, taken an increasingly hands-off approach, although the United States says it is working with Israel on a US-led plan to get aid into the blockaded enclave, which hasn’t received aid in over two months, since a ceasefire-hostage deal collapsed. Israel and the US say Hamas diverts the aid and uses it to maintain control over the Strip.
The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led terrorists invaded southern Israel, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza, 58 of whom remain captive in the enclave. The body of an additional IDF soldier who was kidnapped a decade ago is also being held by Hamas.
Due to the ongoing war, efforts to get Saudi Arabia to recognize Israel, which Trump also sought during his first term, are likely to stay on the burner, as Riyadh says it first needs to see progress toward a Palestinian state, which has been a nonstarter for Jerusalem.
Trump told Time magazine last month that Saudi Arabia will join the Abraham Accords— the series of normalization agreements that his previous administration brokered between Israel and several Arab states. “That will happen,” he said.
Reuters reported this week, however, that the US is no longer demanding Saudi Arabia normalize ties with Israel as a condition for progress on civil nuclear cooperation talks.
Earlier this month, the US gave initial approval to sell $3.5 billion worth of air-to-air missiles for Saudi Arabia’s fighter jets, the latest proposed arms deal for the region ahead of Trump’s trip.
The sale will likely be one of several heralded by Trump on his visit to the kingdom, AP reported, noting that Saudi Arabia has already said it wants to invest $600 billion in the United States over the next four years.
‘Monetizing MAGA’
Iran will also be high on the agenda. Washington and Tehran will hold the latest round of indirect talks on Iran’s nuclear program in Oman on Sunday.
Iran reacted furiously after Trump said he was deciding whether to announce during the trip that he would change how the United States refers to the Gulf, from the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Arabia.
One thing that the White House says won’t be on the agenda is Trump’s own businesses.
Last month, the Trump Organization struck its first luxury real estate deal in Qatar, and released details of a billion-dollar skyscraper in Dubai whose apartments can be bought in cryptocurrency.
Trump’s son Eric was promoting a crypto firm in Dubai while Don Jr prepared to talk about “Monetizing MAGA” in Doha.
But the White House denied Trump was cashing in.
“It’s frankly ridiculous that anyone… would even suggest that President Trump is doing anything for his own benefit,” Leavitt said.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
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