In a sign of priorities, Trump’s first call with a foreign leader was with the Saudi prince

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Wednesday became the first foreign leader to speak by telephone with US President Donald Trump since he returned to power this week for a second term.

The decision to first speak with the de facto Saudi leader, known by his initials MBS, signaled the Trump administration’s priorities, with the president expressing his desire to expand the Abraham Accords with a normalization deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

The deal would likely be part of a massive defense deal that Riyadh plans to sign with Washington, which would provide Saudi Arabia with security guarantees from the United States in the event of an attack and also lead to huge investments in the American economy.

But the Saudis have long made clear that such a deal would require establishing a path to the eventual creation of a Palestinian state. Since the outbreak of the Gaza war sparked by the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7, 2023, Riyadh has intensified its rhetoric, with people in contact with the crown prince saying he would no longer be able to accept more measures. symbolic measures on the part of Israel and that concrete measures would be necessary. Furthermore, Saudi Arabia has made it clear that an end to the war in Gaza is also a necessity before normalization negotiations can begin.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long rejected a two-state solution, and even small steps in that direction would likely lead to the collapse of his hardline government.

Bin Salman told Trump during his Wednesday call that Saudi Arabia would like to increase its investments in the United States over the next four years to $600 billion and that the figure could rise further “if additional opportunities become available.” available,” according to a statement published on Saudi Arabia. state media.

Trump told the Saudi crown prince that he looked forward to working with Riyadh to advance common interests, the Saudi statement added.

No report from the White House was immediately available, although the two men likely also discussed Trump’s decision to once again designate the Iranian-backed Houthi rebel movement in Yemen as a foreign terrorist organization.

The White House announced the decision shortly after his appeal. It is a measure pushed by Riyadh, which has long faced attacks from the Houthis and supported the Yemeni government against rebel groups during a years-long civil war that has decimated much of of the country.

The first Trump administration designated the Houthis as FTO, but that decision was reversed by former US President Joe Biden over concerns that the higher sanction would prevent aid organizations from providing humanitarian aid to civilians in Yemen.

Toward the end of his term, Biden reapplied the lower-tier terrorism designation to the Houthis after the rebel group launched a campaign of missile attacks against Israel and the Red Sea shipping routes, which severely hampered the global economy. The Houthis said they took the step in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza and pledged to continue their attacks until Israel agrees to a ceasefire.

On Wednesday, Trump signed an executive order directing the State Department to prepare a report within 30 days recommending that the FTO label be reapplied to the Houthis. Within 15 days of receiving this report, new Secretary of State Marco Rubio should approve the recommendation to reimpose this label on the Houthis, the executive order said.

Once the designation is reapplied, the executive order mandates that the U.S. Agency for International Development and the State Department sever ties with any entity in Yemen that may have made payments to the Houthis or worked against international efforts to combat the group. rebel.

Rubio pledges to “work tirelessly” for hostage release

Also Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had his first phone call with Rubio since the latter became America’s top diplomat.

Rubio “emphasized that maintaining the United States’ steadfast support for Israel is a top priority” for U.S. President Donald Trump, according to a State Department statement.

Rubio “indicated that he looked forward to confronting the threats posed by Iran and seizing opportunities for peace,” according to the State Department.

The secretary of state also “congratulated” Netanyahu “on Israel’s successes against Hamas and Hezbollah and pledged to work tirelessly to help free all remaining hostages held in Gaza,” the US statement added. .

There was no immediate statement on the call from the prime minister’s office.

Freeing the remaining hostages will likely require sticking to the ceasefire agreement that Trump helped finalize before he returned to the White House earlier this month.

Netanyahu has sent mixed signals about his willingness to see the deal move beyond its first phase, pledging to resume fighting if negotiations over the terms of phase two do not see Hamas cede both military and government forces in Gaza, which the terrorist group is not. planned to do. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said Netanyahu had given him assurances to resume fighting, which was not conditional on negotiations on phase two, which are expected to begin on February 3 at the latest.

In another call Wednesday with UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed, Rubio “reinforced the importance (of the hostage deal) to regional security and stability and the need to continue its implementation.

Rubio also stressed the importance of continuing discussions regarding “post-conflict planning for the long-term governance and security of Gaza,” the US statement said.

The United Arab Emirates has been one of the only countries that Israel has sought to recruit to play a role in the post-war management of Gaza.

Abu Dhabi has said it is ready to do so, but has repeatedly stressed that it will only join the effort if it is part of establishing a political horizon for the Palestinians and if a Reform Palestinian Authority was part of this process. Netanyahu has long rejected both conditions.

Rubio also spoke with Bin Salman, “indicating he looked forward to advancing common interests in Syria, Lebanon, Gaza and beyond, while “highlighting the threats posed by Iran and its proxies », Indicates the American press release.

The secretary “expressed appreciation for Saudi Arabia’s partnership and efforts to promote regional peace and stability,” according to the U.S. statement.

Days after a report that the United States was considering temporarily relocating some of Gaza’s two million residents to Indonesia during the enclave’s post-war construction, Rubio also spoke by telephone with the Minister of Defense. Jakarta Foreign Affairs, Sugiono.

“Rubio praised Indonesia’s willingness to engage in Middle East peace and post-conflict reconstruction,” a U.S. statement on the call said.

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto said last year that his country was prepared to send peacekeeping troops to enforce a ceasefire in Gaza if necessary.

The Times of Israel revealed in 2021 that the Trump administration was close to negotiating a normalization deal between Israel and Indonesia, but ran out of time before the end of the term.

Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, said earlier Wednesday that he was committed to reaching the second phase of the hostage deal when the remaining hostages are expected to be released.

“We need to make sure that the implementation goes well, because if it goes well, we’ll move to phase two and we’ll have a lot more live bodies,” Witkoff said in an interview with Fox News.

While Trump has said he wants to see all the hostages released and an end to the war, he admitted Monday that he was not sure the ceasefire would hold.

Asked about this lack of trust, Witkoff said he agreed with the president and that implementing the deal would likely be more difficult than the original agreement.

Arab officials from the mediating countries told The Times of Israel that Witkoff’s role was critical in getting the hostage deal across the finish line, particularly because of the pressure he put on Netanyahu during of a meeting in Jerusalem on January 11, which led to a breakthrough in the negotiations. negotiations.

Asked what he told the parties during the negotiations, Witkoff said he highlighted Trump’s threat of “hell to pay” in the region if the hostages were not released before his Jan. 20 inauguration.

Witkoff emphasized his goal of expanding the Abraham Accords, insisting that all countries in the region could eventually join the alliance.

“Standardization is a tremendous opportunity for the region. This is essentially the beginning of the end of the war, (which) means the entire region becomes investable (and) financeable,” he said. “Banks don’t have to guarantee that the Houthis, Hezbollah or Hamas are going to fire a missile and destroy a large-scale data center. »

He stressed that a precondition for expanding the Abraham Accords was a ceasefire in Gaza.

Asked about potential candidates for joining the Abraham Accords, Witkoff cited Qatar, praising its prime minister’s role in mediating between Israel and Hamas.

Doha has long asserted that it will not normalize relations with Israel until a Palestinian state is established.