Trump claims 'even Iran' would have joined Israeli normalisation if he stayed in office

Republican presidential candidate says he will bring peace to the Middle East if elected

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said: 'We would have had 12 to 15 countries within ... a year'. AFP

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Former US president and Republican party nominee Donald Trump claimed that a dozen more countries, even Iran, would have joined the Abraham Accords if efforts to expand efforts to encourage Middle East states to normalise relations with Israel had continued under his leadership.

“We did the Abraham Accords,” he said. “Nobody thought that was even possible. I think even Iran would have been in because Iran was desperate to make a deal.”

Mr Trump told Al Arabiya that the Abraham Accords was one of his greatest accomplishments. The agreements, signed at the White House in September 2020, normalised relations between Israel and the UAE and Bahrain, and later Morocco.

“We would have had 12 to 15 countries within a period of, I mean literally, within a period of a year,” Mr Trump said.

He did not name the other countries he said would have eventually signed on to the accords.

President Joe Biden's administration has been hopeful about the potential to normalise relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel, but this has been stalled amid the Gaza war.

When asked about the war in Gaza, Mr Trump said: “I want to see it all stop. I want to see the Middle East get back to peace, and real peace, peace that's going to be a lasting peace.”

The Trump campaign is trying to appeal to the Arab-American community, whose members have expressed frustration over the Biden administration's – and Vice President Kamala Harris's – continued support for Israel amid the war in Gaza, where more than 42,600 people have been killed.

“I don't want to see people killed, everyone's being killed in the Middle East,” Mr Trump said. “I don't want to see that.”

Mr Trump has used “Palestinian” as a slur, expressed strong support for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and called for a reinstatement of the Muslim ban he introduced in 2017.

He repeated his claim that the Hamas-led October 7 attacks on southern Israel, which killed about 1,200 people and resulted in the taking of about 250 hostages, would not have happened if he was in office.

Mr Trump also said Mr Netanyahu should carry out a retaliatory strike against Iran soon, after Tehran launched about 200 ballistic missiles across Israel last month.

He also spoke about the impending birth of his grandchild, who will be half Arab. His daughter, Tiffany Trump, is married to Michael Boulos, who is Lebanese.

Mr Trump was asked about how he would make Lebanon safe for his growing family to visit.

“If I win, we're going to have peace in the Middle East, and soon,” he said without providing details.