BBC Expert Says Arab Leaders Stunned By Trump’s Iran Demands

Donald Trump’s “coercive” diplomatic efforts in the Middle East left Arab leaders in “stunned silence”, according to a BBC expert.

The US president is trying to broker peace in the region after he and Israeli forces attacked Iran at the end of February.

Iranian troops then effectively closed the major oil waterway, the Strait of Hormuz, causing a global energy crisis.

The two sides continue to fight even as they claim to be deep in the negotiation process over a possible ceasefire.

Trump is now attempting to force more Arab countries to join the Abraham Accords, the 2020 US-brokered agreements which normalise relations between Israel and some neighbouring nations, as part of the peace process.

“It was an absolutely remarkable moment,” Tom Bateman, the BBC’s State Department correspondent, told Radio 4′s Today programme.

“According to reports of that call, Mr Trump had said I want you to join the Abraham Accords, to normalise relations with Israel, as part of this process.

“To which there was said to have been a stunned silence.”

Trump has since told Egypt, Turkey and Pakistan to join the Accords or risk not being part of the new deal to open the Strait.

“It felt like there was a partial threat involved in this sense of trying to pressure them, to get them involved in this diplomatic process with the Israelis,” Bateman said. “I think that is going to down again, with a kind of stunned silence.”

He said the countries are yet to formally respond.

The specialist also pointed out that the president is attempting to do two things at once.

“Trump is trying to at the moment undo the problem that was caused by the American-Israeli attack on Iran – which is the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and the global energy crisis – and use fixing that as a coercive attempt to get Arab countries and others like Pakistan to beef up their diplomatic ties with Israel,” Bateman said.

The reporter noted that it is clear Arab Gulf countries are “extremely keen” that this issue is resolved and de-escalated is avoided.

He added that current negotiations with Iran are “largely about re-opening the Strait of Hormuz and easing the global energy crisis”.

That means essentially “kicking off into another couple of months the issue of Iran’s nuclear programme and Iran’s demands for the lifting of sanctions.”

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