Abraham Accords - Dainik Jagran English

US Strikes Iranian Site Near Bandar Abbas Amid Fragile Ceasefire

Abhishek Joshi — Thu, 28 May 2026 14:08:46 +0530

EU Warns US-Iran Tensions Trapped in Dangerous Zone Between War and Peace

The United States carried out fresh military strikes on an Iranian site near the strategic port city of Bandar Abbas early Thursday, escalating tensions in the fragile US-Iran ceasefire. US Central Command confirmed the action, saying its forces downed four Iranian attack drones and hit a ground control station preparing to launch another.

Iranian media reported explosions east of Bandar Abbas, close to the Strait of Hormuz, though local authorities said there were no immediate casualties or major damage. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed it responded by targeting an “American airbase,” according to semi-official Tasnim news agency.

Strikes Follow Drone Threats

The US operation marked the second strike this week on Iranian targets. CENTCOM described the drones as posing a direct threat to maritime traffic around the critical chokepoint. Iranian sources, meanwhile, linked the incident to an alleged confrontation involving a US tanker attempting to cross the Strait of Hormuz without coordination.

Shipping data from LSEG and Kpler showed three large tankers — two supertankers and one LNG carrier — had passed through the strait earlier in the week with transponders switched off, heading toward India and China. Oil prices reacted sharply, with Brent crude climbing above $95 per barrel amid fresh uncertainty.

EU Sounds Alarm on Fragile Peace

In Cyprus, European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas expressed deep concern over the flare-up. Speaking to reporters at a meeting of EU foreign ministers, she said the US and Iran were caught in a “very dangerous zone” between war and peace.

“They are right now in between this very dangerous zone of war and peace, and it is not in anybody’s interest that this war continues,” Kallas said. Her remarks came as both sides traded accusations despite ongoing diplomatic efforts.

Trump Administration’s Stance

US President Donald Trump convened a cabinet meeting at the White House to discuss the situation. He has repeatedly linked any potential deal with Iran to broader regional normalisation, including expansion of the Abraham Accords to more countries such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Secretary of State Marco Rubio reiterated that Washington seeks a diplomatic path but will not allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons.

Iranian officials, including Deputy Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Bagheri Kani, demanded the unconditional release of frozen Iranian assets, calling it the “legal right” of the Iranian people.

Energy Markets and Global Ripple Effects

The renewed hostilities are already reshaping global energy strategies. International Energy Agency chief Fatih Birol noted that the conflict has forced countries to seek alternative supply routes and bolster domestic production, warning of the biggest energy security crisis in decades.

In Asia, stock markets opened lower while oil futures surged. Traders remain wary as traffic through the Strait of Hormuz — a vital artery for global crude — stays severely limited compared to pre-conflict levels.

Regional Fallout Widens

The US-Iran exchanges come amid continued Israeli military operations in southern Lebanon, with fresh strikes reported in Tyre and Nabatieh, and new displacement orders issued by the Israeli army. However, the latest developments around Bandar Abbas have shifted immediate international focus back to the Gulf.

Local residents in Bandar Abbas reported hearing loud explosions in the morning, with Iranian air defence systems briefly activated. Iranian state media described the situation as under control.

What Lies Ahead

Diplomatic channels between the US and Iran remain active, though both sides appear locked in a tense standoff. Analysts say any sustained ceasefire will require significant concessions on sanctions, nuclear issues, and regional proxy conflicts.

For now, the situation in the Strait of Hormuz and surrounding waters remains highly volatile, with implications stretching far beyond the Middle East — affecting energy prices, shipping safety, and global economic stability.

Pakistan rejects Trump's call to join Abraham Accords

Abhishek Joshi — Wed, 27 May 2026 12:26:48 +0530

Islamabad says its stance on the Middle East issue remains non-negotiable despite fresh calls from Washington linking normalisation to regional peace talks.

In a sharp diplomatic pushback, Pakistan has firmly rejected US President Donald Trump’s latest appeal to normalise relations with Israel by joining the Abraham Accords. Defending the country’s traditional foreign policy, Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif stated that Islamabad cannot compromise on its foundational principles for short-term strategic gains.

The developments unfolded on Monday after Trump outlined a major diplomatic push on social media, linking ongoing US-Iran peace negotiations to a broader Middle East settlement. In a lengthy public statement, Trump explicitly named Pakistan alongside heavyweights like Saudi Arabia and Turkiye, urging them to simultaneously sign the accords to secure a wider regional alignment.

Reacting swiftly to the proposal during a late-night television interview, Asif made it clear that joining such an arrangement is out of the question. “Personally, I don't think we should join any such accord that clashes with our fundamental ideologies,” the Defence Minister told Samaa TV.

Core ideology non-negotiable

The strongly worded rejection from Islamabad underlines the domestic and political sensitivities that govern Pakistan’s approach to the Middle East. Officials in the foreign ministry indicated that the state's official position has remained consistent for the past 78 years, anchoring any potential recognition of Israel to the creation of an independent Palestinian state based on pre-1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Asif also took aim at the diplomatic credibility of the Israeli leadership, questioning how any sovereign nation could engage in structured negotiations under the current global climate. “How will you sit down with those people whose word cannot be trusted even for a single day?” he asked, highlighting deep-seated skepticism over ongoing ceasefire violations in Gaza.

Passport policy stands out

To drive home the point, the Defence Minister pointed toward a unique domestic legal barrier that defines the state’s absolute isolation from Tel Aviv. He reminded the public that the country’s travel documents are intentionally designed to restrict access, calling it an institutional proof of Pakistan's refusal to recognise Israel.

“On our passports, we are the only country whose passports don't even include Israel's name,” Asif noted, referencing the explicit inscription stating the document is valid for all countries except Israel.

Trump’s wider alliance blueprint

The push from Washington appears to be part of a broader, unconventional blueprint curated by the Trump administration to establish a massive US-backed alliance in West Asia. According to diplomatic sources, Trump is attempting to capitalise on the current momentum of negotiations with Iran to pull multiple Muslim-majority states into the Abraham Accords framework.

Trump described the ongoing talks with Tehran as "proceeding nicely" but added a stark warning that failure to secure an all-encompassing deal would mean a return to active hostilities. He argued that the 2020 accords, which initially brought the UAE, Bahrain, and Morocco into formal diplomatic terms with Israel, have triggered an economic and social boom that other regional players should look to replicate.

Economic and domestic tightrope

For the current ruling coalition in Islamabad, balancing Washington's expectations against severe domestic pushback remains an incredibly delicate tightrope walk. Observers note that while Pakistan relies heavily on international financial systems and trade ties with the West, any overt softening towards Israel carries extreme domestic political risks capable of triggering widespread public unrest.

Furthermore, the situation is complicated by the evolving stances of major Gulf monarchies. With key regional allies like Saudi Arabia also being intensely courted by the US for normalisation pacts, Islamabad faces the challenging prospect of maintaining its traditional stance while navigating its deep economic dependency on financial assistance and remittances from the Gulf region.

No policy shift ahead

Despite the mounting pressure, senior officials in Islamabad insist that participation in multilateral humanitarian forums should not be misconstrued as a diplomatic shift. Earlier this year, when questions were raised regarding Pakistani representatives attending a Gaza-related peace board meeting, the Foreign Ministry had issued a similar clarification denying any backchannel movement toward the Abraham Accords.

For now, the government maintains that its position remains absolute, leaving little room for the diplomatic expansion Trump envisioned in his latest regional peace outline.

Trump Peace Plan in Pieces: How the Middle East War Shattered the 'Deal of the Century'

Nitin Trivedi — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 16:48:13 +0530

Trump Peace Plan in Pieces: How War in the Middle East Buried the 'Deal of the Century'

Just months ago, Donald Trump was touting his administration's Middle East vision as the crowning achievement of his foreign policy legacy. Today, that vision lies in pieces—shattered by the very conflict it was designed to prevent.

The so-called "Deal of the Century" —a peace plan that promised to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and usher in an era of Arab-Israeli normalization—has been overtaken by the brutal reality of a regional war that now threatens to engulf the entire Middle East.

When Trump returned to the White House in January 2025, he inherited a region on edge but still tethered to the fragile structures of the Abraham Accords. By March 2026, those structures have collapsed under the weight of a conflict that has drawn in Iran, Israel, the United States, and multiple Arab nations .

What Was the Trump Peace Plan?

To understand what has been lost, we need to look back at the blueprint Trump unveiled in January 2020 .

The "Peace to Prosperity" plan, as it was formally known, proposed:

A two-state solution with a demilitarized Palestinian state
Jerusalem as Israel's undivided capital, with a Palestinian capital in eastern Jerusalem's suburbs
Israeli sovereignty over Jewish settlements in the West Bank
A $50 billion economic investment package for Palestinians and neighboring states

Critics called it heavily biased toward Israel. Supporters called it a realistic departure from decades of failed negotiations .

But the plan's true legacy was meant to be normalization—not resolution. The Abraham Accords, brokered in 2020, saw the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan normalize relations with Israel without requiring a Palestinian state .

For Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner, the architect of the strategy, the calculation was simple: economic integration and regional alliances would gradually defuse tensions, making the Palestinian issue less central to Arab-Israeli relations .

How the War Unraveled Everything

The peace plan's unraveling began on February 4, 2026—a date that will likely be etched into Middle East history books.

That day, a joint US-Israeli airstrike killed Iranian Quds Force commander Esmail Qaani in Damascus . Iran's response was swift and devastating: coordinated drone and missile strikes against Israeli and US targets across the region .

The conflict escalated rapidly:

February 12: Iran effectively closes the Strait of Hormuz to all but friendly nations, choking global energy supplies
February 16: Houthi forces in Yemen launch long-range missiles at Israel, with one reportedly intercepted over the Negev Desert
March: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi declares the region "a war zone," with only five nations—India, China, Russia, Iraq, and Pakistan—permitted passage through the strait

The Abraham Accords, designed to create a "moderate axis" against Iran, have instead become a target. UAE and Bahrain, once eager to engage with Israel, now find themselves caught between their new alliance and their proximity to Iranian retaliation .

'The Deal Is Dead'

The grim assessment is coming from all sides.

John Bolton, Trump's former National Security Advisor and now a vocal critic of the administration's Iran policy, told Fox News earlier this month:

"The peace plan is effectively dead. The administration's entire Middle East strategy was predicated on the idea that you could isolate Iran through economic pressure and normalization. Instead, we've stumbled into a war that has undone all of that work" .

Even Kushner, who has largely retreated from public view since the conflict began, has reportedly acknowledged privately that the situation has spiraled beyond the framework he designed .

The Palestinian Authority, which rejected the Trump plan outright in 2020, has watched from the sidelines as the conflict has made their cause—once the central issue in Middle East diplomacy—a footnote to a much larger war .

Trump's 'Maximum Pressure' Gamble Backfires

At the heart of the collapse is Trump's revived "maximum pressure" campaign against Iran—a strategy that worked during his first term but has backfired spectacularly this time.

The president's decision to extend his ultimatum to strike Iranian power plants by 10 days in early March was seen by analysts as a sign of hesitation . Reports that Trump was considering sending more ground troops to the region have kept markets and allies on edge .

The administration's strategy, articulated by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, has been to present Iran with a binary choice: "Either we will strike or they will come to the table" .

Iran has chosen neither. Instead, it has opted to bleed the US and its allies through asymmetric warfare—closing the strait, arming proxies, and forcing a slow, grinding conflict that drains resources and willpower .

The Human and Economic Toll

The crumbling of the peace plan is not just a diplomatic failure—it has real-world consequences that are now being felt globally:

Oil prices have surged past $100 per barrel, with Brent crude trading at $107
The Indian rupee hit a record low past 94 per dollar
Global supply chains are disrupted, with fertilizer and food prices rising as planting season approaches
Hundreds of thousands have been displaced in border regions between Israel and Lebanon

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres delivered a stark warning on March 25:

"The prolonged closure of the Strait of Hormuz is choking the movement of oil, gas, and fertilizer at a critical moment in the global planting season. The best way to minimize those consequences is clear: End the war—immediately" .

What's Left of the Vision?

So what remains of Trump's Middle East peace legacy?

The Abraham Accords still technically exist on paper, but their spirit has been hollowed out by the conflict. Saudi Arabia, the ultimate prize that Trump desperately wanted to bring into the normalization fold, has frozen talks and adopted a more cautious posture .

The Palestinian issue—which the accords were meant to sideline—has re-emerged as a rallying cry across the Arab world, though no Arab government has shown willingness to sacrifice its own interests for it .

The economic investment plan, which promised billions in development, is now overshadowed by defense spending and war budgets .

The Road Ahead

As the conflict enters its third month, the administration appears to have no clear off-ramp. The "peace plan" that once represented Trump's vision for a stable, prosperous Middle East now sits in pieces—a monument to the limits of transactional diplomacy in a region defined by ancient grievances and emerging great-power rivalries .

For the millions living in the shadow of this war, the question is no longer whether the Deal of the Century will be implemented. It is whether any peace—of any kind—can be salvaged from the wreckage .