FILE - President Donald Trump speaks with reporters as he signs executive orders in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington. AP
After ending a ceasefire two months ago, Israel is intensifying the war in the Gaza Strip, where a blockade on food, medicine and other supplies is worsening a humanitarian crisis.
Yet Trump will focus his attention on three energy-rich nations home to existing or planned Trump-branded real estate projects — places where he aims to leverage American economic interests to do what he personally revels in: making business deals.
On Sunday, President Donald Trump said he was ready to accept a luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet as a gift from the ruling family of Qatar during his trip to the Middle East. U.S. officials say it could be converted into a potential presidential aircraft.
“This is his happy place,” said Jon B. Alterman, a senior vice president at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. “His hosts will be generous and hospitable. They’ll be keen to make deals.”
But Trump won’t be able to avoid altogether diplomacy on Gaza or Iran: The Gulf countries hosting him are also interested in easing the regional tensions that emanate from these two places.
“Trump can easily score a win by reassuring them of America’s strategic commitment to the region, demonstrating consistent messaging and generally rising above the fray,” analysts Elizabeth Dent and Simon Henderson of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy wrote Friday.
Trump doesn't plan to visit Israel
By not scheduling a trip to Israel during his first trip to the region during his second term as president, Trump is reinforcing a feeling in Israel that its interests may not be top of mind for him.
That sense intensified last week, when Trump announced that the U.S. would halt its strikes on the Houthis, a group in Yemen that agreed to stop its attacks on American vessels in the Red Sea.
The Houthis' attacks on Israel did not appear to be covered by that deal, which came as a surprise to Israel, according to an Israeli official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive diplomatic issue.
Days after the deal between the U.S. and the Houthis — and despite a two-day Israeli assault on Houthi targets — a missile from Yemen again set off air raid sirens in Israel. Then Israel's military warned Sunday that Houthi-controlled ports in Yemen could be targeted again.
Trump's move to launch negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program also jarred Israel, which fears a deal that would not be strict enough to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon or rein in its support for regional militant groups.
Israel had hoped that Trump might provide military assistance in any strike it carried out on the country's nuclear facilities — an action that is unrealistic so long as there are negotiations, or if they reach a deal.
That has raised questions in Israel over Trump's reliability on other major issues, like a long-sought normalization deal with Saudi Arabia as part of any defense pact the administration may reach with the kingdom. Saudi Arabia has said it would not normalize ties with Israel unless a Palestinian state is established.
Israel has said it will hold off on expanding the war in Gaza until after Trump's visit, leaving the window open for a new ceasefire deal to materialize. And while Hamas and Trump announced that the last living American captive in Gaza, Edan Alexander, will be freed as part of efforts to establish a ceasefire, it is not clear what involvement Israel had in that deal.
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee played down any significance to Trump's decision not to visit the country, saying in interviews with Israeli media that his visit to the region was focused on economic issues.
No major breakthrough in Iran nuclear talks
Although four rounds of nuclear talks between Iran and US mediated by Oman have not led to a major breakthrough, both countries have gone into the so-called “expert level” — meaning specifics about any possible accord likely have been discussed.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi travelled over the weekend to both Saudi Arabia and Qatar ahead of Trump’s trip. Iran is likely trying to pass messages to the U.S. while signalling its interest in continuing the talks.
Trump’s consideration of having America uniformly call the Persian Gulf the “Arabian Gulf” instead drew fierce criticism from across Iran.
“This gulf has always been the Persian Gulf — and it will forever remain the Persian Gulf,” Tehran’s Friday prayer leader, Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami said.
*This story was edited by Ahram Online.
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