Saudi Arabia, Pakistan reject Trump's Abraham Accords demand

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Saudi Arabia, Pakistan reject Trump's Abraham Accords demand

2026-05-26 23:56 Last Updated At：05-27 00:37

Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have reaffirmed that they will not seek normalization of ties with Israel, rejecting U.S. President Donald Trump's call for the two countries to join the Abraham Accords.

Saudi Arabia's position on the Palestinian issue remains unchanged, a Saudi source told Al Arabiya TV on Monday.

The source affirmed the need for "an irreversible pathway to a Palestinian state".

The remarks came after U.S. President Donald Trump urged Muslim-majority and regional countries to normalize relations with Israel and join the Abraham Accords before the U.S. reaches a peace agreement with Iran.

Saudi Arabia has repeatedly said it would not normalize relations with Israel without the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Asif said on Tuesday that Pakistan will not join any agreement to normalize ties with Israel, adding that the country will not accept any deal that "conflicts with its fundamental ideologies".

Trump on Monday urged Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey and Pakistan -- countries involved in mediating U.S.-Iran talks -- to immediately join the Abraham Accords, warning that otherwise they should not participate in the mediation.

He added that if a U.S.-Iran deal is reached, Iran should also join the agreement.

The Abraham Accords, brokered by the United States in 2020 during Trump's first term, were established between the Israeli government and Arab countries including the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco, aimed at rapidly advancing the normalization of relations between Israel and Arab countries.

Before the outbreak of the latest round of Israeli-Palestinian conflict in October 2023, the United States had been pushing for normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel.

After the conflict erupted, Saudi Arabia suspended normalization talks with Israel.

Iran's IRGC says shot down U.S. MQ-9 Reaper in Iranian airspace

Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Tuesday its air defense forces have shot down an MQ-9 Reaper drone in the country's airspace.

In a statement posted on its official news outlet Sepah News, the IRGC warned that it reserves the "legitimate and definitive" right to respond to any violation of the ceasefire reached last month between Tehran and Washington by the "aggressive" U.S. army.

The IRGC said its air defense forces have also detected and tracked an RQ-4 Global Hawk surveillance aircraft and an invading F-35 fighter jet, "which had entered Iran's airspace in continuation of the terrorist U.S. army's interventionist adventurism in the region and aggressive behaviors," and forced them to flee by shooting at them.

Although the IRGC did not disclose the date of the clashes, its statement came one day after the U.S. Central Command said its military had struck missile launch sites and mine-laying boats in southern Iran on Monday.

Iran's semi-official Fars news agency reported several explosions Monday night in the country's southern port city of Bandar Abbas, Hormozgan province, adding that similar sounds were heard concurrently in the Gulf near the counties of Sirik and Jask in the same province.

Iran and the United States reached a ceasefire on April 8 after 40 days of fighting. Following the truce, they held one round of peace talks in Islamabad on April 11 and 12, which failed to yield an agreement.

Over the past weeks, the two sides reportedly exchanged several proposed plans outlining conditions for peace through Pakistan's mediation.