US President Donald Trump already has a gift ready for his three host countries — Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates — ahead of the first diplomatic foreign trip of his second presidency, set to begin on Tuesday.
According to US officials, Trump has pledged to start referring to the Persian Gulf — the body of water that separates the Gulf states and Saudi Arabia from the country its official name is associated with, Iran — as the Arabian Gulf or the Gulf of Arabia.
Although Trump doesn’t have the authority to change the name officially, the symbolism is significant. Arab nations have long been pushing for a change of name, while Iran has highlighted its own historic ties to the gulf.
Trump also promised a “very, very big announcement” during his Middle East trip. “It’ll be one of the most important announcements that have been made in many years about a certain subject, very important subject,” Trump said on Tuesday, somewhat cryptically.
‘Saudi side is prioritizing business’ over Israel
But what does Trump want to achieve? “Each of the Gulf destinations, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and UAE, hold a set of policy priorities for US President Trump,” said Burcu Ozcelik, senior research fellow for Middle East security at the London-based think tank Royal United Services Institute, or RUSI.
“Riyadh is in need of foreign direct investment to meet its Vision 2030 reform targets and does not want to be frozen out of the opportunities that the UAE locked in by joining the Abraham Accords [US-brokered diplomatic normalization agreements between Israel and a set of Arab countries],” Ozcelik told DW.বিস্তারিত