Former President Donald Trump will embark this week on a high -risk tour of the Persian Gulf region, aimed at business and strategic associations with three oil -rich nations: Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
The trip marks Trump's first great foreign visit from his new term and occurs when the nuclear negotiations with Iran are already being measured that the war continues between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist organization, Hamas, in the Gaza Strip. While the business is the official approach, the backdrop is anything but calm.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt described the mission as part of Trump's broader vision that “extremism is defeated [through] Trade and cultural exchanges. “
Under President Joe Biden, relations with the United States with the Gulf states cooled, particularly after Biden promised to make the Saudi heir prince Mohammed Bin Salman a “Paria” for the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. But Trump has reversed the course, adopting a more transactional approach that has heated the ties regional
The American and Saudi flags flutter along a road in Riad, Saudia Arabia, before the arrival of President Donald Trump on May 12, 2025. (Reuters/Hamad I Mohammed)
“The general objective here is that the United States is remembering our allies of the Middle East that we are here to stay,” said Gregg Roman, executive director of the Middle East forum. “We are here to promote our joint interests instead of abandonment policies under the previous administration.”
Great money, big expectations
Saudi Arabia has already promised $ 600 billion in investments in the United States, covering arms purchases, technological transfers, artificial intelligence and the stock market. Trump has said that he believes that Saudi can compromise up to $ 1 billion.
While Saudi leaders aim to diversify their economy away from oil, those massive investments still depend on oil revenues, which could be threatened by Trump's impulse to reduce world energy prices.
Trump is related to Netanyahu as the policy of the Middle East is more and more islands Israel
President Donald Trump made a historic visit to Saudi Arabia at the beginning of his first term in 2017. (Bandar Algaloud/Courtesy of the Royal Court/Saudi Brochure through Reuters)
In addition to the economic agreements, Trump and Bin Salman are expected to discuss a possible civil nuclear program and an expanded defense cooperation. These agreements were ever linked to a potential normalization in the style of Abraham Accords between Saudi and Israel Arabia.
But Riad has made it clear that he will not recognize Israel unless the Palestinian status is on the table, something that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has firmly opposed. No stop has been scheduled in Israel during the Trump tour.
“Israeli standardization in any Saudi-US project is an outdated option,” said Saudi Geopolitical analyst Salman Al-Ansari. “Trump's second administration is doubling in its strategically autonomous policy of the Middle East.”
In a possible gesture of goodwill before the trip, Hamas launched American Israeli hostages Edan Alexander, a movement that Trump called “monumental” in the impulse to end the Gaza conflict.
And as the EAU seek to increase their ties with the United States and become a world leader of AI by 2030, you will need American microchips. The EAU have gone even beyond the Saudi, promising $ 1.4 billion in investments in the United States during the next decade focused on AI, semiconductors, manufacturing and energy.
Biden had squeezed AI exports to maintain such technologies outside the hands of the adversaries at a time when China approached the Middle East states, especially EAU.
On Thursday, the United States announced that Trump would terminate the restrictions of the Biden era.
Itinerary: three days, three energy centers
Trump's visit begins Tuesday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where he will head the US Saudi Investment Forum. Uu. Together with Saudi Ministers, Cadro de Camino David David Sacks and other business leaders.
On Wednesday, he will attend a meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council before flying to Qatar to talk to Emir Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani and a visit to the Air Base to the Udeid of the US Army.
The last stop on Thursday is Abu Dhabi, where Trump will meet with the president of the EAU, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed al Nahyan.
The fourth round of American conversations of Iran ends when Trump will embark on the historic tour of Middle East
The Qatar are taking out all the stops to impress: they have offered Trump the use of a Boeing Royal 747-8, typically reserved for the Royal Family of Qatar, to serve as Air Force One.
Since Biden appointed a great ally in NATO in 2022, Qatar has deepened its ties with the United States, organizing US troops and mediating delicate negotiations, including ongoing conversations in rear channels between Israel and Gaza.
President Trump's decision to accept a $ 400 million plane from Qatar is raising serious eyebrows, even among his most followers. (Getty images | isthock)
Doha also maintains close contact with the new president of Syria, Ahmed al-Sharaa, who overthrew Bashar al-Assad and is now looking for relief of sanctions and standardized ties with the West.
“Regional leaders will have the opportunity to address the situation directly with the president,” said regional expert Jonathan Bass. “Trump is the only man who can lead the way.”
They will be closely watching
While a fourth round of Iran's nuclear conversations in Oman during the weekend failed to produce an advance, Tehran is expected to closely monitor Trump's gulf meetings.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi made unnoticed visits to Saudi Arabia and Qatar before Trump's arrival, probably hoping to transmit messages through those governments to Washington.
Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei will monitor Trump's visit to his regional neighbors. (Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu through Getty Images)
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But Trump's three host nations, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, still carefully with Iran's ambitions.
“The region needs to openly address the problem of IRGC,” Bass said, referring to the body of the Islamic Revolutionary Elite Guard of Iran. “The IRGC is trying to undermine all countries in the region.”
