Trump Pushes Arab Leaders to Normalize With Israel After Iran Deal: Grand Bargain or Impossible Ask?
Axios reports Trump urged several Middle Eastern leaders to join the Abraham Accords if an Iran deal is finalized. The silence on the call may say everything.
President Trump is trying to turn an Iran peace deal into something much bigger: a regional normalization wave with Israel. According to Axios, Trump urged leaders from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan and Bahrain to consider normalizing ties with Israel if the emerging U.S.-Iran deal is finalized. The reported reaction on the call was not applause. It was silence long enough for Trump to joke, “Are you still there?”
That silence may be the most honest diplomatic response of the week.
Trump’s logic is clear. If the Iran war ends and Hormuz reopens, he wants to claim not only a ceasefire but a historic reordering of the Middle East. He sees the Abraham Accords as one of his signature achievements and wants to expand them dramatically. A deal with Iran would create a moment of diplomatic momentum. Why not use it to push Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Pakistan and others toward Israel?
The problem is that timing cuts both ways. The Iran war may make some Gulf leaders more interested in regional stability. It may also make normalization with Israel more politically toxic. Gaza, Lebanon, Ben-Gvir’s behavior toward flotilla activists, Netanyahu’s far-right coalition and civilian casualties have transformed Israel’s image across much of the Muslim world. Leaders may privately want strategic coordination with Israel against Iran. Publicly signing normalization after a war that involved Israel attacking Iran could look like surrender to U.S.-Israeli pressure.
Saudi Arabia is the prize. Riyadh has long been the central target of normalization diplomacy. But Saudi conditions remain difficult: a credible path toward Palestinian statehood, security guarantees and domestic legitimacy. The current Israeli government has shown little interest in Palestinian statehood. That makes the Saudi move politically dangerous, even if crown-prince-level strategic logic points toward deeper cooperation with Washington and Israel.
Qatar and Pakistan are even more complicated. Qatar has positioned itself as a mediator and has domestic and regional reasons to avoid appearing aligned with Israel during a Gaza crisis. Pakistan does not recognize Israel and has a public deeply sympathetic to Palestinians. For Islamabad, normalization would be politically explosive, especially while it is also trying to present itself as a mediator with Iran.
The UAE and Bahrain already normalized ties under the original Abraham Accords, but even they must manage public anger over Gaza and Lebanon. Egypt and Jordan already have peace treaties with Israel, but relations are cold and strained by Israeli policy. Turkey has its own transactional relationship with Israel, full of rupture, restoration and political theater.
Trump’s request therefore reveals both ambition and miscalculation. He may be right that an Iran deal opens a diplomatic window. But he may underestimate the cost of asking Muslim-majority leaders to move toward Israel before there is any visible Palestinian concession.
Supporters will say this is bold diplomacy. They argue that the Middle East needs new architecture: Iran contained, trade restored, Israel integrated and regional states linked by defense, technology and investment. Critics will say it is classic Trump transactionalism: solve the optics, ignore the wounds, and ask Arab leaders to deliver normalization while Palestinians remain trapped in a political dead end.
The headline says Trump wants Arab leaders to normalize with Israel after an Iran deal. The deeper question is whether he is building a grand bargain or asking leaders to walk into political fire.
The silence on the call suggests they understood the risk immediately.