US President Donald Trump said, in a joint press conference at the White House with King Abdullah of Jordan, that he “inherited a mess” when he took the oath of office in January of this year. President Trump talked on several issued pertaining to the Middle East, in which he referred to the nuclear agreement reached between Iran and the P5+1, which consists out of the United States under the Obama Administration, China, Russia, France, Britain plus Germany. Trump slammed the nuclear agreement to be the worst deal he has ever witnessed, stressing ‘it should never have been made.’
“The Iran deal made by the previous administration is one of the worst deals I have ever witnessed and I’ve witnessed, and I’ve witnessed some beauties. It’s one of the worst deals I’ve ever witnessed. It should never have been made. It was totally one-sided against the United States, and frankly, against much of the Middle East. I will do whatever I have to do. They have a deal. It was, some people say, not done properly even in the form of its finalization. There was no vote from Congress. There was no real ratification,” said Trump.
With regard to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Trump and Abdullah discussed ways to restart the long-stalled negotiations, which the Jordanian King said is essentially the core conflict of the Middle East. “The issue we discussed with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which is essentially the core conflict in our region, and the president’s early engagement is beginning in bringing the Palestinians and Israelis together has been a very encouraging sign for all of us. And I think, sir, it was that initiative that allowed us at the Arab Summit last week to extend through, the Arab Peace Initiative, the message of peace to Israel, which we all hopefully will work together to make that come about,” said Jordan’s King.
The Arab peace initiative offers Israel diplomatic recognition from Arab countries in return for a deal that secures statehood for the Palestinians, based on the pre-1967 borders that includes East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state – a demand strongly opposed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing government, whom view Jerusalem as the eternal and indivisible capital of the Jewish state, and perceive the 1967 lines as unviable borders incapable of assuring security to the state of Israel. Following the meetings with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and King Abdullah of Jordan, President Trump is expected to hold one more meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas before Washington is expected to reveal a presidential plan that would set the guidelines for a political process to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.