Trump presses Riyadh on Israel pact

Donald Trump has urged Saudi Arabia to join the Abraham Accords, reviving one of his signature foreign-policy goals as the region grapples with war involving Iran, Israel and the United States. Speaking on Friday, March 27, the US president said Saudi participation would be “very helpful” and cast himself as the leader who had “saved” the Middle East from Iran, tying diplomatic normalisation to a broader claim that his administration had restored regional deterrence.

The appeal lands at a moment of extreme strain. Fighting linked to Iran has expanded across the region, with attacks and counter-attacks drawing in Gulf security concerns, threatening shipping routes and shaking oil markets. Trump’s remarks came against that backdrop, allowing him to frame the Abraham Accords not simply as a diplomatic project but as part of a wider security architecture in which Gulf Arab states and Israel align more openly against Tehran and its network of allies. That pitch has long resonated in Washington and parts of the Gulf, but it has also collided with domestic politics across the Arab world and with the unresolved Palestinian question.

Saudi Arabia has not accepted that argument on Trump’s terms. Riyadh has repeatedly maintained that it will not establish diplomatic relations with Israel without the creation of a Palestinian state, and the kingdom has publicly described that position as firm and non-negotiable. That stance hardened after the Gaza war reshaped Arab public opinion and narrowed the room for manoeuvre for leaders who had once appeared closer to a US-brokered normalisation package. Trump has continued to speak as though Saudi entry remains achievable, but Saudi officials have kept linking any breakthrough to Palestinian statehood and to a broader political settlement that would be difficult to deliver under current conditions.

That gap is central to the diplomatic story. The Abraham Accords, first signed in 2020 by the UAE and Bahrain and later joined by Morocco and Sudan, marked a major shift in Arab-Israeli relations and were celebrated by Trump allies as proof that regional diplomacy could advance without first resolving the Palestinian issue. Supporters argued the accords opened channels for trade, tourism, technology partnerships and security co-operation. Critics said they sidestepped the core dispute at the heart of the conflict and left any future Saudi move politically exposed unless it came with tangible gains for Palestinians. Saudi Arabia, because of its weight in the Arab and Islamic worlds, has always been seen as the prize that would either cement or limit the accords’ historical reach.

Trump’s formulation also reflects how much the regional equation has shifted since his first term. Before the Gaza war, Washington had spent months pursuing a grand bargain in which Saudi Arabia would normalise ties with Israel in exchange for US security guarantees, defence co-operation and support for a civilian nuclear programme. That effort stalled as the war deepened and as Palestinian statehood returned to the centre of Arab diplomacy. By late 2025, Saudi Arabia had doubled down on its conditions even as Trump publicly voiced hope that the kingdom would still join the accord framework. What Friday’s remarks show is that Trump continues to see normalisation as both achievable and politically useful, especially while presenting himself as the leader willing to confront Iran more forcefully than his predecessors.

For Saudi Arabia, the calculation is more layered. Riyadh shares US and Israeli concerns about Iranian power, missile capabilities and proxy networks, and it stands to gain strategically from a more formal regional arrangement that deepens defence and intelligence ties. At the same time, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has spent several years trying to balance deterrence with de-escalation, including outreach to Iran, while pursuing an economic transformation agenda that depends on stability, foreign capital and manageable regional risk. Entering a high-profile normalisation deal while Gaza remains unresolved could bring diplomatic and reputational costs across the Arab and Muslim worlds, even if security logic points in another direction.