US President Donald Trump’s administration is actively discussing with Azerbaijan the potential of bringing that nation and a few Central Asian allies into the Abraham Accords, hoping to deepen their current ties with Israel, based on 5 sources with information of the matter.
As a part of the Abraham Accords, inked in 2020 and 2021 throughout Trump’s first time period in workplace, 4 Muslim-majority international locations agreed to normalize diplomatic relations with Israel after US mediation.
Azerbaijan and each nation in Central Asia, against this, have already got longstanding relations with Israel, which means that an enlargement of the accords to incorporate them would largely be symbolic, specializing in strengthening ties in areas like commerce and navy cooperation, stated the sources, who requested anonymity to debate non-public conversations.
Such an enlargement would replicate Trump’s openness to pacts which can be much less bold than his administration’s objective to persuade regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia to revive ties with Israel amid its ongoing battle with Hamas in Gaza.
The dominion has repeatedly stated it could not acknowledge Israel with out steps towards Israeli recognition of a Palestinian state. A hovering dying toll in Gaza and studies of starvation within the enclave because of the humanitarian support disaster and navy operations by Israel have buoyed Arab fury, complicating efforts so as to add extra Muslim-majority international locations to the Abraham Accords.
The battle in Gaza, the place over 60,000 individuals together with tens of hundreds of girls and kids have died based on unverified Hamas-controlled well being ministry figures that don’t differentiate between civilians and combatants, has provoked international anger. Canada, France and the UK have introduced plans in latest days to acknowledge an impartial Palestine.
One other key sticking level is Azerbaijan’s battle with its neighbor Armenia, because the Trump administration considers a peace deal between the 2 Caucasus nations as a precondition to affix the Abraham Accords, three sources stated.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, proper, and Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan pose for a photograph previous to their talks in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, July 10, 2025. (Azerbaijani Presidential Press Workplace through AP)
Whereas Trump officers have publicly floated a number of potential entrants into the accords, the talks centered on Azerbaijan are among the many most structured and severe, the sources stated. Two of the sources argued a deal might be reached inside months and even weeks.
Trump’s particular envoy for peace missions, Steve Witkoff, traveled to Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, in March to fulfill with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. Aryeh Lightstone, a key Witkoff aide, met Aliyev later within the spring partially to debate the Abraham Accords, three of the sources stated.
As a part of the discussions, Azerbaijani officers have contacted officers in Central Asian nations, together with in close by Kazakhstan, to gauge their curiosity in a broader Abraham Accords enlargement, these sources stated. It was not clear which different international locations in Central Asia — which incorporates Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan — have been contacted.
The State Division, requested for remark, didn’t talk about particular international locations, however stated increasing the accords has been one of many key targets of Trump. “We’re working to get extra international locations to affix,” stated a US official.
The Azerbaijani authorities declined to remark.
The White Home, Israel’s Overseas Ministry and the Kazakhstani embassy in Washington didn’t reply to requests for remark.
Any new accords wouldn’t modify the earlier Abraham Accords offers signed by Israel.
Obstacles stay
The unique Abraham Accords — inked between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan — have been centered on restoration of ties. The second spherical of enlargement seems to be morphing right into a broader mechanism designed to broaden US and Israeli smooth energy.
Wedged between Russia to the north and Iran to the south, Azerbaijan occupies a important hyperlink in commerce flows between Central Asia and the West. The Caucasus and Central Asia are additionally wealthy in pure sources, together with oil and fuel, prompting numerous main powers to compete for affect within the area.
Increasing the accords to nations that have already got diplomatic relations with Israel may be a way of delivering symbolic wins to an American president who is understood to speak up even comparatively small victories.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Kazakhstan’s then-President Nursultan Nazarbayev in Astana, December 14, 2016 (Haim Zach/GPO)
Two sources described the discussions involving Central Asia as embryonic — however the discussions with Azerbaijan as comparatively superior.
However challenges stay and there’s no assure a deal can be reached, significantly with sluggish progress in talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
The 2 international locations, which each received independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, have been at loggerheads because the late Nineteen Eighties when Nagorno-Karabakh — an Azerbaijani area that had a principally ethnic-Armenian inhabitants — broke away from Azerbaijan with assist from Armenia.
In 2023, Azerbaijan retook Karabakh, prompting about 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee to Armenia. Either side have since stated they wish to signal a treaty on a proper finish to the battle.
Ethnic Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh journey on a truck on their option to Kornidzor, Armenia, on September 26, 2023. (Stepan Poghosyan, Photolure photograph through AP, File)
Primarily Christian Armenia and the US have shut ties, and the Trump administration is cautious of taking motion that would upset authorities in Yerevan.
Nonetheless, US officers, together with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump himself, have argued {that a} peace deal between these two nations is close to.
“Armenia and Azerbaijan, we labored magic there,” Trump instructed reporters earlier in July. “And it’s fairly shut.”
