WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Thursday it was important that Middle Eastern countries join the Abraham Accords, which aim to normalise diplomatic ties with Israel, saying it will ensure peace in the region.

“Now that the nuclear arsenal being ‘created’ by Iran has been totally OBLITERATED, it is very important to me that all Middle Eastern Countries join the Abraham Accords,” Trump wrote in a social media post.

As part of the Abraham Accords, signed during Trump’s first term in office, four Muslim-majority countries agreed to normalise diplomatic relations with Israel after US mediation. Efforts to expand the accords have been complicated by a soaring death toll and starvation in Gaza.

The war in Gaza, where local authorities say more than 60,000 people have died, has provoked global anger. Canada, France and the United Kingdom have announced plans in recent days to recognise an independent Palestinian state.

Trump’s administration is actively discussing with Azerbaijan the possibility of bringing that nation and some Central Asian allies into the Abraham Accords, hoping to deepen their existing ties with Israel, according to five sources with knowledge of the matter.

During his first term in 2020, Trump secured a series of deals, known as the Abraham Accords, to establish official diplomatic ties between Israel and several Arab states, including the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco.

Published in Dawn, August 8th, 2025