The White House is qualifying President Donald Trump’s call for Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, Egypt, Pakistan, and Turkey to normalize relations with Israel as part of any deal to end the Iran war.
Asked whether those nations’ participation in the Abraham Accords would be a must-have for any agreement, White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly described it instead as a potential accompaniment.
“As the President said, the Abraham Accords have provided massive economic benefits to all countries involved and enabled historic cooperation, so this would be a natural complement to a peace deal,” she said in a statement.
Trump, who counts the accords as a major achievement, suggested the new nations sign on during a Saturday call with Gulf leaders, reportedly surprising them. A White House official said the plan was discussed with staff prior to the call after getting floated inside the administration for “several weeks.”
But twinning the two issues would run into serious difficulty — or, as one person close to the White House put it, “screw the whole thing up.”