President Donald Trump held a phone call on Saturday with the leaders of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan and Bahrain. The stated purpose was to discuss an emerging deal to bring the war with Iran to a close. But according to two US officials with direct knowledge of the conversation who were cited in an Axios report, Trump used the call to push a much bigger agenda.
Trump told the leaders that once the Iran war is over, he expects those among them who do not yet have formal peace agreements with Israel to join the Abraham Accords and normalise relations with the Jewish state. The request caught several leaders off guard. Those from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Pakistan, none of which maintain formal diplomatic ties with Israel, were particularly surprised.