Donald Trump told Arab leaders he will only broker a peace deal with Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz if they normalize relations with Israel, according to a leaked phone call.
The most powerful leaders in the Middle East, including those from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, and Egypt, joined the President on a conference call on Saturday to discuss progress toward ending the US-Iran war and reopening the vital oil passageway.
In return, Trump pressed the leaders to normalize ties with Israel, a demand aimed at nations that have opposed the Jewish state since its founding in 1948.
Arab leaders were so stunned by the demand that they refused to respond, remaining entirely silent on the call, according to Axios.
After a prolonged silence, Trump nervously joked, ‘Are they still there?’
With the silence unbroken, Trump ended the call by announcing that his envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff would follow up on Israel normalization in the weeks ahead.
Following the dramatic weekend call, peace talks between the US and Iran have stalled on Monday, with both sides at an impasse over Tehran’s uranium stockpile and the unfreezing of Iranian assets, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Trump issued an extraordinary new threat on Truth Social, posting a meme that depicts him forcing a cartoon terrorist representing Iran to negotiate or he ‘will blow s*** up.’
President Donald Trump and Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and other participants at the US-Saudi Investment Forum at the Kennedy Center on November 19 in Washington, DC
Trump issued an extraordinary new threat on Truth Social, posting a meme that depicts him forcing a cartoon terrorist representing Iran to negotiate or he ‘will blow s*** up’
Trump is said to have pressed leaders to normalize ties with Israel over the weekend. Above, Benjamin Netanyahu
The most powerful leaders in the Middle East, including the Saudi Arabian crown prince, joined Trump on the call
The President vowed that the US and Iran will either reach ‘a great and meaningful’ agreement to end the war ‘or there will be no deal.’
The post appeared to be another attempt to push back at critics who warn that a pact without restrictions on Iran’s nuclear ambitions risked a resurrection of the Obama deal struck in 2015.
Trump unilaterally pulled the US out of the agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, during his first term, trashing it as ‘the worst deal in history.’
‘It will be the exact opposite of the JCPOA disaster negotiated by the failed Obama Administration, which was a direct and open path to a Nuclear Weapon for Iran,’ Trump posted on Monday.
Iran said the deal under negotiation doesn’t include any immediate concessions to its nuclear program, only a commitment to discuss the issue during a 60-day period, with the current talks centered around reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran is set to open the Strait of Hormuz within 30 days after securing a deal with the US, a diplomatic source told financial newswire Nikkei.
Iran’s top negotiators and financial chiefs arrived in Doha on Monday for continued peace talks on unfreezing billions of dollars of the regime’s assets, according to AFP.
‘Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived in Doha earlier today for talks on ongoing diplomatic efforts to end the conflict,’ a source told AFP.
Oil fell to its lowest price in more than a month on hopes of a deal, with global benchmark Brent crude dropping to $97 per barrel.
President Trump has long sought to expand the Abraham Accords, his 2020 deal that normalized relations between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco.
However, Israel’s standing among Arab nations has plummeted in the wake of the Gaza war, which has reportedly killed tens of thousands of Palestinians.
An oil tanker burns after being hit by an Iranian strike in the ship-to-ship transfer zone at Khor al-Zubair port near Basra, Iraq, on March 11
A fire burns after a missile strike on February 28 in central Tel Aviv, Israel
Kushner and Witkoff have led negotiations for the US in the most significant global conflicts during Trump’s second administration, including Iran, Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Gaza.
The Abraham Accords were a key milestone of the first Trump administration.
Nations that have signed on so far include Bahrain, Morocco, the UAE and Sudan, as well as Israel.
On Sunday, Trump addressed his desire for more Middle Eastern states to sign peace agreements with Israel.
‘I would like to thank, thus far, all of the countries of the Middle East for their support and cooperation, which will be further enhanced and strengthened by their joining the Nations of the historic Abraham Accords,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social.
He added: ‘Who knows, perhaps the Islamic Republic of Iran would like to join, as well!’
Trump also said the US relationship with Iran was ‘becoming a much more professional and productive one.’
However, he urged Iran to ‘understand’ that it could not develop a nuclear weapon or bomb.
Fire rises into the sky after an Israeli attack on the Shahran oil depot in Tehran last year
Trump announced yesterday afternoon that the Iranian peace agreement was ‘largely negotiated’ but still ‘subject to finalization.’
‘In addition to many other elements of the Agreement, the Strait of Hormuz will be opened,’ he said on Truth Social.
Mohammed bin Zayed, the president of the UAE, was among the Muslim leaders who told Trump they supported the deal to end the war, according to Axios.
