WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s administration is actively discussing with Azerbaijan the possibility of bringing that nation and some Central Asian allies into the Abraham Accords, hoping to deepen their existing ties with Israel, according to five sources with knowledge of the matter.
Azerbaijan and every country in Central Asia, by contrast, already have longstanding relations with Israel, meaning that an expansion of the accords to include them would largely be symbolic, focusing on strengthening ties in areas like trade and military cooperation, they said.
The original Abraham Accords, inked between Israel and the four Muslim majority countries in the Middle East and Africa in 2020 and 2021 during Trump’s first term in office, centred on normalising diplomatic relations with Israel after US mediation.
However, a soaring death toll in Gaza and starvation in the enclave due to blockade of aid and military operations by Israel have buoyed Arab fury, complicating Trump’s efforts to add more Muslim-majority countries to the Abraham Accords.
The war in Gaza, where over 60,000 people including tens of thousands of women and children have died, has provoked global anger. Canada, France and the United Kingdom have announced plans in recent days to recognise an independent Palestine.
Another key sticking point is Azerbaijan’s conflict with its neighbour Armenia, since the Trump administration considers a peace deal between the two Caucasus nations as a precondition to join the Abraham Accords, three sources said.
While Trump officials have publicly floated several potential entrants into the accords, the talks centred on Azerbaijan are among the most structured and serious, the sources said. Two of the sources argued a deal could be reached within months or even weeks.
Trump’s special envoy for peace missions, Steve Witkoff, travelled to Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, in March to meet with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. A key Witkoff aide, Aryeh Lightstone also met Aliyev later in the spring in part to discuss the Abraham Accords, three of the sources said.
As part of the discussions, Azerbaijani officials have contacted officials in Central Asian nations, including in nearby Kazakhstan, to gauge their interest in a broader Abraham Accords expansion, those sources said.
