President Donald Trump ended the Middle East trip for a period of four days on Friday, and he traveled to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
His first major foreign trip in his second term witnessed that the United States secures more than $ 2 trillion in investment agreements in the Gulf region, according to the White House, and Trump also declares that he will move to lift US sanctions in Syria.
Trump also said during the trip that he believed the United States and Tehran “are close to perhaps a deal” on the Iranian nuclear program and called on Qatar to use its influence to persuade Iran’s leadership to reach an agreement with the United States to contact its fast nuclear program.
“This trip creates” some holes and interesting opportunities, “Michael Hanna, director of the American program for the International Crisis Group, told ABC News.
He said: “It seems that the Gulf -led region can have some important and important inputs in the formation of American policy in a better direction,” such as moving away from the military conflict with Iran and the Hythles and engaging with Syria to achieve stability in the transition after the Assad family removed from power.
But he said: “One of the things that was a big problem for Trump, traditionally, is implementation and follow -up.”
President Donald Trump is speaking at the Saudi Investment Forum, in Rayyada, Saudi Arabia, May 13, 2025.
McNamee/Getty Images victory
During Trump’s trip, the United States obtained more than $ 200 billion in commercial deals with the United Arab Emirates, more than 243.5 billion dollars in economic deals and an economic exchange agreement of $ 1.2 trillion with Qatar, and the commitment of $ 600 billion from Saudi Arabia to invest in the United States. Some deals focused on artificial intelligence infrastructure, energy and defense.
“Increasingly, he was convinced, as a former real estate developer and a businessman, that pressure to expand the American commercial interest should be the basic work of the American government, if it is permissible to speak. He went there with this mission,” said Manoushor Duraj, professor of political science at the University of Texas Christianity, told ABC News. “As far as it was a guidance principle, it has taken great steps towards achieving this goal.”
However, note, “Satan is always in detail.”
“We will see how it would go out in practice,” Duraj said.
Among his main advertisements, Trump said during a major speech in Riyadh on Tuesday that he would order the suspension of US sanctions against Syria, which has been appointed as a sponsor of terrorism in a state since 1979 “to give them a chance of greatness.”
After this announcement, there are “many big question marks” in terms of implementation and follow -up, Hanna said.
“Some of these things that he can do with a stroke,” Hanna said, noting that it is not clear how his administration or Congress will interact.
“It was quite clear that this is happening, so I will monitor how first, [Secretary of State] Marco Rubio deals with this, because he can lift some of these penalties with a pen stroke. There are other major issues with sectoral penalties and Caesar Law. “
“There is a lot to reveal,” he said.
The interim president in Syria, Ahmed Al -Sharra, has his hand with President Donald Trump in his head, Saudi Arabia, May 14, 2025.
Bandar Aljaloud/Saudi Royal Palace via AP
When asked about the schedule for lifting sanctions during notes in Türkiye on Thursday, Rubio said: “I was with the president when he made a decision to do so and included him in his speech. So we were doing a preparatory work in this regard.”
He said that Trump intends to use assignment authorities under the Caesar Law, which must be renewed every 180 days.
“In the end, if we make enough progress, we would like to see the law canceled because you will struggle to find people to invest in a country within six months, the sanctions can return,” said Rubio. “We are not there yet. This is premature. I think we want to start with the initial waiver, which will allow foreign partners who want to flow to help to start doing this without being at risk of sanctions. I think we are making progress, and we hope to be in a position soon, or one day, to go to Congress and ask them to remove sanctions permanently.”
As negotiations on the Iranian nuclear program continued, Hanna noticed the technical and diplomatic effort that took negotiations on the joint comprehensive work plan – the Iranian nuclear deal for the year 2015 approved by the Obama administration but Trump withdraw the United States from three years.
“These negotiations were very technical, very detailed, very long. This is not the way Trump loves to work, or [U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve] And it is, right? They are not details, comrades. It is the big picture, and it is a piece of deals. “
He added: “But for something like a nuclear agreement with Iran, there is a lot required to make a real agreement, and it requires a lot of technical and diplomatic ability. If we reach that stage, this will be a very big challenge – even if everyone gets the same page – to turn the principle into an agreement on paper.”
Duraj said that Trump’s foreign policy can be a short -term balance, but “the defect is not a long -term strategy.”
“These are quick initiatives,” he said. “The practical part of it -” let’s see what it succeeds. Let’s see what we will get to the deal we want. We will learn to go, and we will be built and adjust as needed. Well, these assets can be.
