Trump Demands Gulf Leaders Sign Abraham Accords on Multilateral Call; Saudi Arabia Blindsided

Following the May 24 multilateral call convened by Trump to discuss Iran and regional security, reporting emerged on May 25 that Trump had gone off-script and demanded that Gulf leaders — including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, Pakistan, and Bahrain — sign on to the Abraham Accords framework. Saudi and Qatari leaders were reportedly left silent, with Trump joking 'are you still there?' Saudi officials were caught off guard by the pivot from the Iran discussion agenda to normalization demands. The demand put MBS in a politically difficult position: King Salman remains firmly opposed to normalization before Palestinian statehood, and Saudi domestic opinion toward Israel collapsed from 41% favorable (2020) to 13% (2025 surveys) after the Gaza war. Saudi Arabia's formal response reiterated its position that any normalization with Israel requires 'a firm and irreversible pathway to a Palestinian state.'