President Trump on Monday called for more Middle Eastern countries to join the Abraham Accords, the U.S.-brokered normalization agreements between Israel and several states that he said were one of the most important diplomatic achievements of his first term.
Mr. Trump said on social media that cooperation across the Middle East would be “further enhanced and strengthened” if more countries joined, and even suggested that Iran could be one of them. He reiterated the call in a separate post, saying he had urged Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Pakistan “should be ready, willing, and able” to sign up to the agreement.
Since Mr. Trump was re-elected in 2024, he has sought to expand accords with little success. In November, Kazakhstan joined, even though it already had full diplomatic relations with Israel.
If more countries sign up to the accords, it could placate some Iran hawks who have criticized Mr. Trump for pursuing a peace deal. Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, has issued several warnings in recent days about agreeing to a peace deal with Iran. But he welcomed the prospect that Saudi Arabia and other Arab states could normalize relations. “It will be historic and one of the most consequential agreements in history,” he said. “The whole goal has always been to isolate Iran,” he said.
But such a move is unlikely to happen soon, and ending the war that the United States and Israel started by attacking Iran would probably not encourage Saudi Arabia and others to join the accords, analysts say.
Here is what to know about the Abraham Accords.
What are the Abraham Accords?
Signed in 2020 on the White House lawn, the first of the deals known as the Abraham Accords established diplomatic ties between Israel and two Gulf Arab states, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. A similar agreement with Morocco soon followed.
Until then, the only Arab states that had formally recognized Israel were Egypt and Jordan. Most others had pledged not to do so until a Palestinian state was created.
The lack of diplomatic relations meant that citizens of Israel could not travel to those countries, and vice versa. It also forced any trade and security cooperation under the table. Until the Abraham Accords were agreed, even direct phone calls to Israel were blocked in several Arab countries, including the Emirates.
Mr. Trump has described the accords as the crowning foreign policy achievement of his first term, and they have received bipartisan support from U.S. lawmakers.
What impact have the deals had?
The Abraham Accords have created an opportunity for expanded trade, security cooperation and tourism between the countries that signed them.
Israeli tourists and investors have poured into Dubai, the biggest city in the Emirates, and technology and energy companies have signed new deals. In 2024, trade between the two countries exceeded $3 billion, and regular flights ferried travelers between the Emirates and Tel Aviv.
Morocco had also seen an influx of Israeli tourists. And to sweeten its incentives to sign the deal, the United States agreed to recognize the disputed Western Sahara territory as a sovereign part of Morocco.
The impact in Bahrain had been more modest, and protests against the accords have become a regular occurrence in the Gulf nation.
The deals have done nothing to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The prospects for a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza — a longstanding goal of Arab leaders — appear dim, even though several European countries have recently recognized Palestinian statehood.
Is this a peace deal?
Over the almost six years since the Abraham Accords were signed, Mr. Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel have referred to the agreements as a “peace deal.”
“The blessings of the peace we make today will be enormous,” Mr. Netanyahu declared from a White House balcony when the accords were announced.
“Ultimately, it can end the Arab-Israeli conflict once and for all,” he added.
Scholars of the region say that is merely a turn of phrase, belying the fact that there has never been a war between Israel and the U.A.E. or Bahrain.
Morocco has also largely stayed out of the Arab-Israeli conflicts, aside from sending a token force to a 1973 war, more than 50 years ago. In effect, the deals bypassed the central conflict, between Israel and the Palestinians, declaring harmony between parties that were not fighting.
Will more countries join?
American and Israeli officials have frequently stated their desires and expectations for other countries to sign the accords. But for years, they were unable to realize that goal.
The biggest prize for supporters of the accords would be Saudi Arabia, the powerful, oil-rich kingdom. But years of overtures to persuade Saudi Arabia to recognize Israel have failed.
The Biden administration took up that mantle fervently, pursuing a deal that was predicated on the United States granting major benefits to the kingdom.
Analysts say that Israel’s conduct during the war in Gaza, with the immense suffering of Palestinian civilians, made joining the accords a much harder sell for Arab nations.
Saudi officials have insisted that they would be unable to recognize Israel without the establishment of a Palestinian state, something the Israeli government adamantly opposes.
David E. Sanger, Natan Odenheimer and Anton Troianovski contributed reporting.
Vivian Nereim is the lead reporter for The Times covering the countries of the Arabian Peninsula. She is based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
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