During a crucial Saturday, May 25, conference call intended to finalize a deal ending the conflict, Trump explicitly urged multiple Arab and Muslim leaders to normalize relations with Israel.
The unexpected mandate caught several participants completely off guard, signaling the administration’s intent to use the security crisis to force a total Middle East realignment.
The high-level phone call included the leaders of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, and Bahrain.
World leaders including President Donald Trump, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, Jordan’s King Abdullah, and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, pose for a family photo, at a world leaders’ summit on ending the Gaza war on October 13, 2025 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt (Suzanne Plunkett – Pool / Getty Images)
While hawkish participants, including UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed, expressed full solidarity regarding the emerging Iran pact, the atmosphere reportedly shifted when Trump linked post-war stability to Israeli normalization.
Two US officials confirmed that Trump’s request was met with dead silence on the line, prompting the president to joke and ask if the leaders were still there.
Envoys mobilize for historic normalization pacts
Specialized White House diplomatic channels have been activated to conduct direct, follow-up enforcement operations across unaligned regional capitals (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)
Trump informed the regional leaders that he intends to contact Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu next, expressing hope that Israel’s leader would soon join them on a unified call.
The president stressed that nations currently lacking formal diplomatic ties with Israel must prepare to sign the accords once hostilities conclude.
To maintain momentum, Trump announced that his top envoys, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, will directly follow up on the normalization directive over the coming weeks.
Riyadh resists pressure ahead of elections
President Donald Trump welcomes Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia during an arrival ceremony at the White House on November 18, 2025, in Washington, DC (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
The administration’s primary objective is a historic Saudi-Israel peace agreement, but the regional political climate remains deeply unfavorable.
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman previously pushed back against Trump on this issue during a tense Oval Office meeting last November.
The conflict, coupled with a deep rift between Saudi Arabia and the UAE, has driven Riyadh to adopt a much tougher stance against Israel’s far-right government.
Saudi officials continue to demand an irreversible path to a Palestinian state, a condition the Israeli government rejects. Analysts believe Riyadh will freeze any major diplomatic steps ahead of Israel’s upcoming elections in September.
Capitol leadership backs enforcement of terms
President Donald Trump shakes hands with Sen Lindsey Graham during an event in the East Room of the White House on November 6, 2019, in Washington, DC (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Despite these deep systemic hurdles, Trump doubled down publicly on Sunday via Truth Social, thanking Middle Eastern nations for their cooperation while floating the highly controversial idea of Iran eventually joining the Abraham Accords.
In Congress, Senator Lindsey Graham firmly backed the president’s play, warning that a refusal by Arab and Muslim allies to adhere to Trump’s normalization request would carry severe repercussions for future relationships with Washington and stand as a massive historical miscalculation.
Retired, living in the Scottish Borders after living most of my life in cities in England. I can now indulge my interest in all aspects of living close to nature in a wild landscape. I live on what was once the Iapetus Ocean which took millions of years to travel from the Southern Hemisphere to here in the Northern Hemisphere. That set me thinking and questioning and seeking answers.
In 1998 I co-wrote Millennium Countdown (US)/ A Business Guide to the Year 2000 (UK) see https://www.abebooks.co.uk/products/isbn/9780749427917
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