As negotiations to end the war in Ukraine stall, the Trump administration is turning to the Middle East to showcase progress toward landmark deals and to fulfill the president’s vow to be a global peacemaker.
Trump’s special envoy for the Middle East and go-to mediator Steve Witkoff made a surprise announcement at the White House on Wednesday, declaring he believed that a temporary truce in Gaza was now within reach — and that it could lead to “a peaceful resolution of that conflict.”
“I think that we are on the precipice of sending out a new term sheet, that hopefully will be delivered later on today. The president is going to review it, and I have some very good feelings about getting to a long-term resolution,” Witkoff said.
U.S. officials said they expected the framework would be transmitted to Israel and to Hamas via mediators late Wednesday or early Thursday, and that the reason for Witkoff’s optimism was that the administration believes the terms of the new proposal for ensuring talks continue after the initial hostage release and 60-day long ceasefire would appeal to both parties.
Any break in the warfare would also present the opportunity to scale up a newly launched, U.S.-backed effort to distribute humanitarian aid in Gaza, which came under fire this week after multiple videos showing widespread chaos at distribution sites emerged.
Negotiations still may face an uphill battle, particularly with Hamas.
The initial three-day peace deal aimed at ending the war in Gaza, which was brokered by members of both the Biden and Trump administrations, collapsed in March after Israel sought to extend the initial stage of the agreement to rescue more detainees from Gaza without proceeding to more in-depth negotiations aimed at ultimately reaching a two-state solution. At the time of deal’s collapse, the Trump administration supported Israel’s proposed extension.
However, the president has since taken a harsher approach to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, revealing on Wednesday that he told him it would be “inappropriate” to strike Iranian nuclear facilities.
“I told him this would be inappropriate to do right now because we’re very close to a solution. Now that could change at any moment, could change with a phone call. But right now, I think they want to make a deal,” Trump said of Iran.
“We are doing very well with Iran,” he said. “We have made a lot of progress, and we’ll see.”
Over the past several weeks of direct and indirect negotiations with Iran, Trump administration officials have grown increasingly bullish about the potential to broker a nuclear agreement, although officials say there are still several key gaps — including whether Tehran would be allowed to continue enriching its own uranium or if it would have to resort to importing the material to power its civilian nuclear program.
The administration has explored taking a number of steps aimed at demonstrating tangible progress from its talks with Iran, including the possibilityof issuing some kind of joint memorandum with Iran and potentially expanding the U.S. delegation negotiating with Iran to include Secretary of State Marco Rubio, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the matter who cautioned that no final decision has been reached.
On negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, the president signaled that he would give Moscow more time before determining whether Russian President Vladimir Putin truly wanted peace.
“I can’t tell you that. But I’ll let you know in about two weeks,” Trump said on Wednesday. “We’re going to find out whether or not he’s tapping us along or not. And if he is, we’ll respond a little bit differently.”
Russia has proposed sending a working-level delegation to Istanbul in order to present Ukraine with its terms for achieving a short-term ceasefire next week — which it calls a “peace memorandum” — but Ukrainian officials have balked at the delay.
“Why wait until Monday? If the Russians have finally elaborated on their “memorandum” — after ten days of reflections and attacks — it can be passed to us right away,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said.
Critics of the Kremlin believe pushing off direct talks plays to Russia’s battlefield strategy, as intelligence indicates Moscow is continuing to prepare for a warm-weather offensive aimed at capturing significant amounts of Ukrainian territory, even as it continues to participate in the U.S.-led peace process to end the war.
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