Trump must lead the way to a comprehensive Middle East peace deal
Opinion Middle Eastern politics & society By LANA NUSSEIBEH Published 2nd July 2025
Directly after Iran’s egregious June 23 attack on Qatar, the United Arab Emirates joined our Gulf partners at an emergency Gulf Cooperation Council meeting in Doha. We affirmed the indivisibility of our collective security, and offered practical pathways forward. The latest round of fighting should not have surprised anyone. It is the result of decades of missed opportunities and ineffective leadership, and the proliferation of proxy conflicts that have undermined the chances for lasting peace for all
For years, two false notions have taken hold in the Middle East: first, that force alone can secure stability and security. Second, that states in our region can be built securely on the basis of a zealous ideology. In fact, military victories in the Middle East are often hollow and fragile and extremist ideology can never create safe, stable and successful societies.
As the window to de-escalate closes, there is an opportunity for US President Donald Trump to forge a second-term legacy of peace in the Middle East, by building on his landmark first-term achievement: the Abraham Accords. Over the past 20 months of war in Gaza and the ongoing expansion of illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, UAE leaders have worked relentlessly with regional and international partners to advance ceasefire efforts. Through diplomacy and engagement with all sides, the UAE has consistently stressed the need to restore dialogue.
Last week, the GCC asked Trump to go even further. While commending him for “achieving a ceasefire between Iran and Israel”, Gulf states called on him “to exert efforts to achieve a permanent ceasefire in Gaza”. The ongoing war in Gaza is the consequence of a collective failure tobuild inclusive, just and sustainable peace. The conflicts that followed in Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iran have left the region at the precipice.
The path we choose now will shape the Middle East’s future for decades, just as when its destiny and borders were defined by outside powers at the end of the first world war. Today, the region lies at the heart of global stability; its waterways are the lifeline of global trade.
Peace must come to the Middle East prior to Christ’s Return and the Battle of Armageddon, the Bible is very clear on this as Ezekiel
38 shows. Ezekiel 38 describes the Battle of Armageddon and the situation Israel at that time and it says that when Gog and Magog (Russia and Europe) come down to invade Israel will be a land at peace with “unwalled villages” which is a long way from anything we have seen so far. This is what we read…
The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshek and Tubal; prophesy against him 3 and say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against you, Gog, chief prince of Meshek and Tubal. 4 I will turn you around, put hooks in your jaws and bring you out with your whole army—your horses, your horsemen fully armed, and a great horde with large and small shields, all of them brandishing their swords. 5 Persia, Cush x and Put will be with them, all with shields and helmets, 6 also Gomer with all its troops, and Beth Togarmah from the far north with all its troops—the many nations with you.
10 “ ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: On that day thoughts will come into your mind and you will devise an evil scheme. 11 You will say, “I will invade a land of unwalled villages; I will attack a peaceful and unsuspecting people—all of them living without walls and without gates and bars. 12 I will plunder and loot and turn my hand against the resettled ruins and the people gathered from the nations, rich in livestock and goods, living at the center of the land.”
So one of the key outcomes we can expect to see from the recent wars is more Arab countries joining the Abrahamic Accords and settling for Peace and Prosperity instead of war.
This has been Presidents Trumps goal from his first term when he established the Abrahamic Accords, will he now bring Peace to the Middle East.
