Donald Trump has secured a series of lucrative deals and gifts during his tour of Gulf states but fell short of paving the way for peace in Middle Eastern regions plagued by conflict.
The US President’s visits to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) were marked by lavish receptions and announcements of multi-billion pound deals and investments.
However, on the final day of Trump’s tour, hopes of peace in Gaza were dashed after Israel launched a new offensive in the north of the enclave on Friday, reportedly killing at least 55 people.
In the wake of the attacks, Trump told reporters in Abu Dhabi: “We’re looking at Gaza. We’re going to get that taken care of. A lot of people are starving.”
While the US President also fell short of reaching a concrete agreement with Iran on the future of its nuclear programme, he said Iranian officials had “sort of agreed” to terms laid out by the White House.
Here, The i Paper takes a look at the lucrative deals reached between the US and Gulf states, as well as Trump’s approach to achieving “peace through prosperity“.
Trump kicked off his tour by meeting Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman in Saudi Arabia. The pair announced a $142bn (£107bn) arms deal between the two countries, as well as other investments the Crown Prince said could eventually be worth $1tn (£754bn).
Speaking in Riyadh, Trump also announced he will lift US sanctions against Syria, saying it was now time for the country to move forward with “a chance at greatness”.
During his visit to Doha on Wednesday, Trump unveiled another lucrative deal for Boeing to supply Qatar with 210 planes as part of a $96bn (£72bn) contract.
Qatar also pledged to invest $10bn (£7.5bn) in a US military facility south-west of Doha.
During the visit, Trump touted a $400m (£302m) luxury Boeing 747-8 jetliner, gifted to him from the Qatari government to use as Air Force One, despite criticisms the move amounted to a bribe.
After Trump’s meeting with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the White House announced a $14.5bn (£10.9bn) commitment from Etihad Airways to invest in 28 Boeing aircraft powered by engines made by GE Aerospace.
Trump and Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince during a business dialogue forum in Abu Dhabi (Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP)Trump and Sheikh Mohamed also attended the unveiling of a new 5GW artificial intelligence (AI) campus – the largest outside the US.
The US Commerce Department announced the two countries have agreed to set up a “US-UAE AI Acceleration Partnership”, which will reportedly give the Gulf country more access to advanced chip technology.
Could Trump achieve ‘peace through prosperity’?
Despite Trump’s ability to cosy up to Gulf state leaders through lucrative deals, experts have cast doubt on the White House’s stated aim of achieving “peace through prosperity”.
Neil Quilliam, associate fellow at Chatham House’s Middle East and North Africa Programme, said: “No one really wants to rain on the ‘peace through prosperity’ parade, especially in the Middle East, a region subjected to so many wars and conflicts for so many decades.”
Dr Quilliam said that Trump’s “eye-watering deals” mark positive developments in the region, but “they will do little to end the conflicts and suffering in Gaza, Yemen and Sudan.
“None of those conflicts received much attention during the US President’s visit to the Gulf – the peace and prosperity bandwagon simply rolled on by. Therefore, the region will continue to experience and suffer from conflict and its effects will be felt by all countries”.
Dr Quilliam explained that Trump’s approach resembled former UK prime minister Tony Blair‘s “economic growth path to peace”, which he said has been “discredited and seen the Palestine-Israel go from bad to worse”.
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He added: “Peace requires a political process and whilst economic growth and prosperity can undergird a process, they cannot replace it.
“Trump’s lifting of US sanctions on Syria and his meeting with Syrian President Ahmad al Sharaa in Riyadh has the potential to transform Syria, as it can open the doors to regional and international financial support for reconstruction, investment, and job creation.
“However, it will take time to lift sanctions, as the process of removing legislative sanctions can be slow and laborious and, in the meantime, Israel will continue to impinge upon Syrian sovereignty and strike against targets inside the country.
“To put this all in context, peace through prosperity is not enough, both peace and prosperity require a political resolution to enable each to survive and flourish.”
A senior Hamas official told Sky News the militant group is in direct talks with the United States over peace in Gaza, adding that he believes Trump can help broker a deal.
Hamas has shared its proposed agreement both through mediators and “directly with some persons in the US administration”, Dr Basem Naim said on Thursday.
The militant group is calling for “a prisoner exchange, total withdrawal of Israeli forces, allowing all the aid to get into Gaza and rebuilding of [the] Gaza Strip without forceful immigration”, he added.
Mohammed A Salih, non-resident senior fellow in the Foreign Policy Research Institute’s National Security Program, said that even if a deal is reached on Iran’s nuclear programme, it might not be enough to ease the concerns of regional states around the country’s activities “through its networks of militias and allies and ballistic missile program”.
“Hence, other countries, particularly Israel, might continue to feel threatened by Iran’s regional policies and this could be a potential source of instability and conflict in the region, again depending on Israel’s perceptions and calculations regarding the threat posed by Iran.”
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