Trump says 'getting close' to deal to avoid Iran military action

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AFP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday a deal was close on Iran’s nuclear program that would avert military action, sending oil prices tumbling, as he boasted of raising “trillions of dollars” on a Gulf tour.

He made the remarks in Doha before flying on to the United Arab Emirates capital Abu Dhabi on the third and final leg of a Gulf tour that began in Saudi Arabia.

“We’re not going to be making any nuclear dust in Iran,” Trump said.

“I think we’re getting close to maybe doing a deal without having to do this,” he said, referring to military action.

Oil prices plunged more than 3% on rising hopes for a nuclear deal that could see Iranian exports return to the market.

Iran has held four rounds of talks with the Trump administration, which has sought to avert threatened military action by Israel while keeping up its “maximum pressure” campaign.

“You probably read today the story about Iran. It’s sort of agreed to the terms,” Trump said.

The U.S. president did not specify which remarks he was referring to, but an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Ali Shamkhani, told NBC News that Tehran would give up its stocks of highly enriched uranium as part of a deal in which Washington lifts sanctions.

Trump said Iran should “say a big thank you” to Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, who had pressed the US leader to avoid military action against his country’s giant neighbour.

Speaking to troops at Al-Udeid, the biggest US military base in the region, Trump said his priority was “to end conflicts, not start them.”

But he warned that “I will never hesitate to wield American power if it’s necessary to defend the United States of America or our partners” — while flanked on stage by a fighter jet and an MQ-9 drone.

He also said Qatar would invest $10 billion in the coming years to support Al-Udeid, which hosts the regional headquarters of the U.S. military’s Central Command.

Abu Dhabi

In Abu Dhabi, he was welcomed at the airport by UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, whose oil-rich country seeks to become a technology and artificial intelligence hub.

But these ambitions hinge on access to advanced U.S. technologies, including AI chips under restricted export – which the UAE president’s brother and spy chief Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed reportedly lobbied for during a Washington visit in March.

Trump is hoping to secure billions of dollars in business deals with the oil-rich UAE.

Qatar has also been a key mediator in talks to end the 19-month Gaza war and release hostages held by the Palestinian militants Hamas.

Trump again said without elaborating that the United States wanted to “take” Gaza, which has been obliterated by the war started by the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel.

Gaza will become a “freedom zone,” Trump said, without elaborating.

He has also vowed to “go back on the offensive” should Yemen’s Houthi rebels launch attacks, despite a ceasefire agreement with Washington this month.

Gulf largesse

Trump, who began his first major foreign tour in Saudi Arabia, has been unabashed about seeking Gulf money and hailed the effect on creating jobs at home.

“This is a record tour. There’s never been a tour that will raise it — could be a total of $3.5 to $4 trillion just in these four or five days,” Trump said in Qatar.

In Doha, the president hailed what he said was a record $200 billion deal for Boeing aircraft.

Saudi Arabia promised its own $600 billion in investment, including one of the largest-ever purchases of U.S. weapons.

The Gulf leaders’ largesse has also stirred controversy, with Qatar offering Trump a luxury airplane ahead of his visit for presidential and then personal use, in what Trump’s Democratic rivals charged was blatant corruption.

Business, not ’nation-builders'

In a speech in Riyadh, Trump attacked both the left and the traditional wing of his Republican Party for their policies on the Middle East.

Complimenting the skyline of the Saudi desert capital, Trump said: “The gleaming marvels of Riyadh and Abu Dhabi were not created by the so-called ’nation-builders,’ ’neocons’ or ’liberal non-profits,’ like those who spent trillions failing to develop Kabul and Baghdad.”

Trump has made no mention of human rights during his tour.

Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden had initially vowed to shun Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over U.S. intelligence findings that he ordered the gruesome murder in 2018 of Jamal Khashoggi — a Saudi dissident writer who lived in the United States.

Trump instead hailed the crown prince, who is Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, as a visionary due to the kingdom’s rapid economic investments.

He also acceded to a key request by the crown prince in announcing the lifting of sanctions on Syria following the toppling of Bashar Assad in December.

He met in Riyadh with Ahmed al-Sharaa, the first such meeting between leaders of both nations in 25 years.

Sharaa — a former jihadist once on the U.S. wanted list — dressed in a suit and was complimented by Trump as a “young, attractive guy.”

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By AURELIA END and CALLUM PATON, Agence France-Presse