Since reports began to emerge about a possible deal with Iran, pro-Israel supporters in the United States have warned President Donald Trump not to sign the deal.
Hawks, including some prominent senators, have voiced opposition to any deal that fails to eliminate, or at least significantly weaken, Iran’s political leadership and destroy its military.
Recommended stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
But some critical voices softened their tone after President Trump suggested more Arab countries could establish formal relations with Israel as part of the deal.
U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham was one such politician. On Saturday, Mr Graham, a vocal supporter of the war, warned that ending the conflict to reopen the Strait of Hormuz would be a “nightmare” for Israel.
“It’s important to get this right,” he said Saturday in a social media post shared by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), a US lobbying group.
Two days later, on Monday, President Trump said countries including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Pakistan “should be required” to establish diplomatic relations with Israel as part of the U.S.-Iran deal.
Graham later praised the push, calling Trump’s foreign policy strategy “just amazing.”
“With other countries like Saudi Arabia and Pakistan making peace with Israel, the region will know a level of stability that was undreamed of before President Trump,” the senator wrote on social media platform X.
Graham added that normalizing relations with Israel “will ultimately lead to regional integration, making the Middle East a powerhouse of economic opportunity and profit, rather than a powder keg.”
Abraham Accords
Mark Levin, a pro-Israel political commentator close to President Trump, similarly praised the push for normalization on Monday, after criticizing a potential deal with Iran on Saturday.
“This is going to be a really big deal!” Levin said, commenting on Trump’s proposal.
The turnaround came on Monday after President Trump laid out a vision for expanding the Abraham Accords, a series of normalization agreements between Israel and its Arab neighbors.
“It should be mandatory for all these countries to sign the Abraham Accords at least simultaneously,” he wrote in Truth Social, naming six countries that already have formal diplomatic relations with Israel, including Turkiye and Egypt.
None of the countries Trump mentioned responded to his call. But for years, many countries have refused to normalize relations with Israel, especially after the genocidal war in Gaza.
Saudi Arabia has repeatedly said it supports the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, which called on Israel to recognize a Palestinian state based on 1967 borders and with East Jerusalem as its capital.
President Trump’s Monday request comes as his administration struggles to negotiate a peace deal after the United States and Israel launched a war against Iran on February 28.
Critics have questioned President Trump’s objectives in a war that began with the idea of regime change in Iran, halting its nuclear program and reducing the country’s missile force. Later, another pressing goal was imposed as one of the main goals. It would force the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, a key trade route through which more than 20 percent of the world’s oil is transported.
It is unclear whether President Trump has the authority to delegate policy to other countries in the region as part of peace negotiations with Iran.
But a new normalization push could soften the blow for pro-Israel politicians who oppose ending the war with Iran.
Dania Safer, executive director of the Gulf International Forum, said Trump is trying to make what has been a “strategic failure” of the war seem like a success for the United States and Israel.
But Gulf states, especially Saudi Arabia and Qatar, are “not interested” in normalization at this stage, Taafer told Al Jazeera.
Beyond the Palestinian cause, Taafer explained, the Gulf states, which were attacked by Iran during the war, do not want to “tip the balance in favor of the Israeli-led regional order.”
He said that if President Trump insists on promoting normalization with Iran, the U.S.-Iran deal could be derailed.
“How much of this is rhetoric and symbolic, and how much of this is actually a substantive policy position of the Trump administration? I think that’s the question we’re unclear on,” Safer said.
Republican criticism
Since his first term as US president, Trump has made normalizing diplomatic relations with Israel a top priority.
In 2020, with the support of President Trump, Israel signed the Abraham Accords with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Morocco, establishing bilateral diplomatic relations.
But President Trump and his two-term predecessor, former President Joe Biden, have failed to expand the agreement. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also continues to reject the idea of a Palestinian state.
Israel has long sought to separate its efforts to build regional bonds from its continued occupation of Palestinian land and mistreatment of Palestinians, which rights groups say amounts to apartheid.
More formal ties with Arab and Islamic countries could provide a political and economic boost for Israel, while further isolating the Palestinians.
Over the weekend, when details of a potential peace deal with Iran were leaked, Mr. Trump faced rare but indirect criticism from Republicans.
The terms reportedly included the unfreezing of billions of dollars in Iranian assets and an end to the war, with the promise of further negotiations.
Sen. Ted Cruz, a staunch supporter of President Trump, said Saturday he was “concerned” about reports about the deal.
“It would be a disastrous mistake if the result was an Iranian regime still run by Islamists who chant ‘Death to America,’ receiving billions of dollars, able to enrich uranium and develop nuclear weapons, and gain effective control of the Strait of Hormuz,” Cruz said in a social media post.
AIPAC also shared a post from Republican Sen. Roger Wicker criticizing the agreement.
“A 60-day cease-fire based on rumors of good faith from Iran would be a disaster,” Wicker said. “Everything accomplished in Operation Epic Fury will be in vain!”
Mike Pompeo, who served as secretary of state during Trump’s first term, joined in the criticism, comparing the rumored deal to the 2015 nuclear deal negotiated by Democratic officials.
“It’s definitely not America first,” he added, referring to President Trump’s campaign promise to put America’s interests above all else.
“It’s simple: open the damn straits. Deny Iranian access to funds. Fully unleash Iranian capabilities so they can’t threaten our regional allies,” Pompeo said. “The deadline has passed. Let’s go.”
The Trump administration quickly hit back at the former top diplomat, accusing him of being misinformed.
“Mike Pompeo has no idea what he’s talking about,” White House communications director Stephen Chan wrote in X.
“He should shut his stupid mouth and leave the real work to the experts. How can he know what’s going on when he hasn’t read it at all?”
