Trump’s Middle East Tour- What are the Primary Objectives?:

Introduction:

            US President Donald Trump is set to embark on his first Middle East tour since he came into office and will aim to visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. Trump’s Middle East tour will focus on economic and diplomatic issues such as the Gaza crisis, economic and defense deals, as well as Trump’s desire to achieve his Iran strategy. Achieving these objectives will have geopolitical implications not only for the US’ standing in the Middle East but also the balance of power in the region. The purpose of this article is to analyse the primary objectives of Trump’s upcoming visit to the Middle East and their broader geopolitical implications. This article will argue that the three primary objectives of Trump’s Middle East tour are:

• Gaza Diplomacy
• Economic Deal-Making with the Gulf States
• Iran Strategy

Gaza Diplomacy:

            One can argue that a primary objective of Trump’s visit to the Middle East is to be engaged in Gaza diplomacy to bring about the end of Israel’s operations in Gaza, which has been ongoing since October 2023 and has claimed the lives of up to 50,000+ Palestinians residing in the besieged enclave. Gaza diplomacy can be considered an important objective for this Middle East trip, as it provides Trump with an opportunity to engage in a diplomatic dialogue with regional actors to end Israeli aggression in the Middle East. Dialogue relating to the Gaza crisis can potentially include conversations revolving around the role the Gulf States will play in the reconstruction of Gaza as well as providing standing to Trump’s claimed desire for peace in the Middle East (Abdalla, 2025).  By engaging with the Gulf States in discussions on how to end the Gaza crisis, Trump puts himself in a position where he can showcase his willingness to work with regional partners to achieve a peaceful settlement.

Furthermore, Gaza diplomacy provides an opportunity for Trump to showcase the leverage the US has to force a ceasefire agreement from Israel. According to Giorgio Cafiero from the New Arab “The leadership in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE will also make the case to Trump that the US should use its leverage to pressure Israel into ending its rogue conduct in Lebanon, Gaza, and Syria…” (Cafiero, 2025).  Through making Gaza diplomacy an essential objective of his Middle East tour, Trump is presented with an opportunity to begin his second term with a foreign policy win that can potentially boost his diplomatic image in the region. If successful in negotiating with the Gulf States and ending  Israel’s aggression in Gaza, the implication can be made that Trump is serious about achieving peace in the Middle East, which could potentially result in the US being perceived as an honest broker when it comes to the Middle East crisis.

            Although Trump has Gaza diplomacy as a primary objective of his Middle East tour, which could have positive implications for his diplomatic stature in the Middle East, it may have an adverse effect on the US’ relationship with Israel. This is clear as leading up to his Middle East tour, Trump has signaled that he does not plan on visiting Israel in the near future and stated that unless Israel engaged in negotiations to end their campaign in Gaza and achieved meaningful results, he would not visit (Liebermann and Diamond, 2025). It is evident that over the past few weeks there has been a rift between the US and Israel caused by Trump bypassing Israel relating to major developments in the Middle East. These developments include Trump negotiating with Hamas directly for the release of the last American hostage being held in Gaza as well as a US-Houthi ceasefire that saw the end of the US bombardment of Yemen (Bell, 2025). By bypassing Israel to negotiate with Hamas, Trump puts Israel’s plans to occupy Gaza indefinitely in serious doubt, which can put strain on the US-Israeli relationship.

Trump’s bypassing of Israel in relation to ending the Gaza crisis can have major implications for Israel. This is clear as Trump has the leverage to withdraw US military and economic support for the impending Israeli assault on Gaza set to take place after his tour of the Middle East (Perry, 2025). Without US support, Israel could be forced to the negotiation table and would have to engage in meaningful ceasefire talks to regain favour with the US. However, a negotiated ceasefire could spell the end of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right coalition, as their political survival relies heavily on prolonging the Israeli operations in Gaza. Naturally, Netanyahu’s Gaza operations conflict with Trump’s desire to not engage in  “forever wars” and Trump’s message to Israel is quite clear “…get with the programme. And the programme does not include forever wars with unachievable goals — all tactics and no diplomatic gains” (Ghattas, 2025). Therefore, it can be argued that Trump’s bypassing Israel to achieve the end of the Gaza crisis can strain the US-Israel relationship, while also posing a threat to Netanyahu’s political survival, which will have an impact on the Israeli political system.

Economic Deal-Making with the Gulf States:

            Furthermore, it can be assumed that another essential objective of Trump’s Middle East tour is economic deal-making between the US and the Gulf States. The economic relationship between the US and the Gulf States has been a cornerstone in Trump’s MENA policy. This is clear as Trump views the Gulf States, especially Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar, as critical actors in his ability to use “economic statecraft” as opposed to traditional forms of diplomacy (Cook, 2025). In terms of economic deals, Trump’s tour of the Middle East provides Trump with an opportunity to diversify the US trade relations with the Gulf States across numerous sectors, which can open the US up to lucrative deals, which can benefit the US economy and defense in the Middle East. This is evident as the US aims to increase economic cooperation in emerging industries such as tech and AI, while also increasing defense cooperation through the “… $3.5 billion sale of advanced air-to-air missiles to Saudi Arabia, a signal that security cooperation (and the hefty contracts that come with it) will feature alongside business deals” (Helwa, 2025). Through priortising economic deal-making as a primary objective of his Middle East tour, Trump can potentially generate billions in revenue for the US economy and create opportunities that can benefit US businesses across emerging markets such as tech.

Iran Strategy:

            Finally, it can be said that a vital objective for Trump’s Middle East tour is to focus on Trump’s Iran strategy. For added context,  there have been negotiations between the US and Iran to secure a new nuclear deal, which aims to completely dismantle Iran’s nuclear programme. This is clear as Trump wants Iran to completely dismantle its nuclear programme or face a potential US military response if they fail to comply with Trump’s demands (Berg, 2025). Naturally, these negotiations will have a significant impact on the geopolitics of the Middle East region, as Iran has lost significant strength and influence due to attacks on its regional allies, which could force them to capitulate to Trump. This is clear as through a successful nuclear deal the Gulf States can “… take advantage of Iran’s regional setbacks, including a weakening of Hezbollah and Assad’s departure from Syria, to rebalance and fortify the region” (Vakil, 2025). Therefore, it can be argued that in the event of achieving the objective of a successful Iran strategy through a new nuclear deal, the Middle East will see a shift in the balance of power that could see regional influence shift in favour of the Gulf States backed by Trump.

            Although achieving a successful Iran strategy is on the cards for Trump during this Middle East tour, one has to explore the possibility that this strategy might not succeed. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stated “Enrichment is an issue that Iran will not give up and there is no room for compromise on it. However, its dimensions, levels, or amounts might change for a period to allow confidence-building” (Araghchi, 2025 cited in Kleiderman, 2025). As mentioned before, Trump desires to reach an agreement that will see Iran completely denuclearised and has vowed to use military force if Iran refused. In the scenario that Trump does not make any headway regarding his Iran strategy during this tour, a military response could have a devastating impact on the region. An attack on Iran by the US can result in further destabilisation of the region, and can put US partners such as the Gulf States at risk of a reciprocal response in the future. Therefore, it is imperative that the Trump administration dedicates a significant portion of this Middle East tour to focus on achieving the objective of securing an Iran strategy that will benefit the US and stabilise the region for its Gulf State partners.

Conclusion:

            To conclude, it can be said that Trump’s Middle East tour offers opportunities for Trump to achieve some of his objectives in the MENA region. Trump has the opportunity to have a significant foreign policy win by engaging in diplomatic dialogue to bring about the end of the Gaza crisis. If Trump can make meaningful progress in Gaza diplomacy, it can allow the US to achieve the status of a peace broker in the Middle East. Moreover, this tour also provides Trump with an opportunity to strengthen economic ties with the Gulf States by closing lucrative investment deals, which can be beneficial for the US when it comes to boosting revenue and expanding into emerging markets such as AI. Furthermore, this tour provides Trump with the opportunity to achieve his objective of producing a new Iran nuclear deal, which will be vital towards his Iran strategy and shaping the balance of power in the region. If this trip is successful, Trump will be able to claim diplomatic and economic wins, which could possibly boost his image as an effective deal-maker which could benefit the US’ position in the Middle East.

Sherif Amin is a non-resident research fellow at the America program of the 16th Council