U.S. President Donald Trump is taking off on Monday for a visit to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, aiming to signal massive business offers at the same time as accords on the Middle East’s hotspots will likely be more durable to seal.
While Israel’s battle on Gaza and Iran’s nuclear program will loom giant over Trump’s first main international journey of his second time period, the White House mentioned he appeared ahead to a “historic return” to the area.
Eight years in the past Trump additionally selected Riyadh for his first abroad journey as president — when he memorably posed over a glowing orb with the leaders of Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
His resolution to as soon as extra bypass conventional Western allies to go to the oil-rich Gulf states underscores their more and more pivotal geopolitical position — in addition to his personal business ties there.
“It’s hard for me to escape the idea that President Trump is going to the Gulf because this is his happy place,” mentioned Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East program on the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
“His hosts will be generous and hospitable. They’ll be keen to make deals. They’ll flatter him and not criticize him, and they’ll treat his family members as past and future business partners.”
‘Historic return’
Riyadh, Doha and Abu Dhabi are anticipated to drag out all of the stops for Trump, who’s making his first main abroad journey after briefly attending the funeral of Pope Francis in Rome.
The rich Arab states will combine pomp and ceremony for the 78-year-old billionaire with offers that would span protection, aviation, power and synthetic intelligence.
“The president looks forward to embarking on his historic return to the Middle East” to advertise a imaginative and prescient the place “extremism is defeated in place of commerce and cultural exchanges,” spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt mentioned Friday.
But he will be unable to keep away from the lengthy record of regional crises, together with the battle in Gaza, the Houthi rebels in Yemen and Syria’s post-Assad turmoil.
The Gulf states have performed a key diplomatic position below Trump 2.0. Qatar has been a serious dealer between Hamas and Israel whereas Saudi Arabia has facilitated talks on the battle in Ukraine.
“Trump is coming to the Gulf first because this region has become a geopolitical and financial center of gravity,” Anna Jacobs, non-resident fellow on the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, instructed AFP.
In Riyadh, Trump will meet the leaders of the six Gulf Cooperation Council states: Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Oman.
But one place that’s not on the itinerary is Israel, the United States’ closest ally within the area.
That has sparked hypothesis about tensions between Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israel has set Trump’s journey because the deadline for a cease-fire take care of Hamas earlier than launching its plan for the “conquest” of Gaza and the displacement of most Palestinians there.
Trump has nonetheless taken an more and more hands-off method, though the United States says it’s working with Israel on a U.S.-led plan to get support into the blockaded enclave.
Efforts to get Saudi Arabia to acknowledge Israel, which Trump additionally sought throughout his first time period, are more likely to keep on the backburner as Riyadh says it first must see progress in the direction of a Palestinian state.
‘Monetizing MAGA’
Iran will in the meantime even be excessive on the agenda. Washington and Tehran will maintain the newest spherical of oblique talks on Iran’s nuclear program in Oman on Sunday.
Iran has additionally reacted furiously after Trump mentioned he was deciding whether or not to announce throughout the journey that he would change how the United States refers back to the Gulf, from the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Arabia.
One factor that the White House says will not be on the agenda is Trump’s personal companies.
Last month, the Trump Organization struck its first luxurious actual property deal in Qatar, and launched particulars of a billion-dollar skyscraper in Dubai whose flats might be purchased in cryptocurrency.
Trump’s son Eric was selling a crypto agency in Dubai whereas Don Jr ready to speak about “Monetizing MAGA” in Doha.
But the White House denied Trump was cashing in.
“It’s frankly ridiculous that anyone… would even suggest that President Trump is doing anything for his own benefit,” Leavitt mentioned.
Source: www.dailysabah.com