President Trump’s Next Middle East Power Play

President Donald Trump’s airstrikes in Iran have potentially created “opportunities” for the remaining hostages to be freed, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. A lot of chatter has arisen as of late that a possible ceasefire could be on the horizon in Gaza – Trump proclaimed that one could occur as early as next week.

Today Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer is at the White House to meet with Trump regarding such a ceasefire possibility. He’s basically Netanyahu’s right-hand man in such negotiations.

On the heels of the ceasefire between Israel and Iran and other countries possibly joining the Abraham Accords, it’s feasible that a deal could be reached in Gaza. At the same time, it’s fine to have a wait-and-see mindset until it happens.

Thus far, President Trump’s approach to the Middle East has varied greatly from the approach of other Administrations. Previous interactions with the region involved military engagement and regime change. However, Trump, for the most part, has sought peace diplomatically – especially through the Abraham Accords.

Now is Iran all of a sudden going to be a peaceful country? No, of course not. It will still be the unpredictable bad actor. Yet it has been severely exposed as being not much more than a paper tiger right now.

It doesn’t have the capacity to strike back effectively at Israel – or the U.S. – anymore without the threat of nuclear weapons. Its proxies have also been so decimated that they can’t help out. Iran doesn’t have many options right now.

Israel clearly still wants to take Iran out completely. But the Trump Administration is going to try to resolve issues diplomatically. We will keep you updated on further developments.

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was one of the architects of the Abraham Accords during Trump’s first term. He joined our broadcast to explain the importance of more Middle Eastern countries joining the Accords:

It’s exciting to hear that the Trump Administration thinks others may join the Accords. But for America, it’s really important because as these Islamic nations, these Gulf Arab state nations, just do the basic, which is recognize Israel’s fundamental right to exist as the Jewish homeland, as they do that, there’s less risk our young men and women have to go fight and risk their lives in this place. There’s more prosperity, and there’s more peace. . . . [The Abraham Accords] fell on hard times during the Biden Administration, not because of anything that the Biden Administration did, but because of all the things they didn’t do. They broke our allyship with the Gulf states. They didn’t support the Israelis. They didn’t do a darn thing to push back on Iran, and those three tools were what gave nations confidence to say, We’re not going to recognize Israel’s right to exist and enjoy the fruits, the benefits, that flow from that.

And so I’m unsurprised in the aftermath of what President Trump did in Iran, what the Israelis did to Hamas and to the Houthis and to Hezbollah, that these nations now have the confidence they need to do the essential, which is to just simply say, We’re no longer going to have the desire to destroy the nation of Israel as our fundamental foreign policy goal. And so, I’m excited about this. I hope more nations will join.

We pray that peace might be on the horizon in the Middle East. It will help create a safer world for both the U.S. and Israel. Above all, we especially want to see the release of the remaining Israeli hostages.

In the meantime, the ACLJ continues to advocate for Israel. My brother, ACLJ Executive Director Jordan Sekulow, just returned from our European office, where he worked on behalf of Israel. The ACLJ also just sent demand letters to the U.N. Secretary-General, the U.N. Security Council, and the U.N. Human Rights Council to defend Israel. We will never stop fighting for our greatest ally.

Today’s Sekulow broadcast included a full analysis of the possibility of a ceasefire in Gaza, which could lead to the release of the remaining Israeli hostages. ACLJ Senior Counsel for International and Government Affairs Jeff Ballabon joined us to discuss the ongoing ceasefire talks.

Watch the full broadcast below: