Trump to attend summit of Gulf leaders amid backlash at home over plane gift: Live

Caroline Rose, director at the US-based New Lines Institute, said she was surprised by Trump’s decision to lift sanctions on Syria.

However, she noted that it highlights Saudi Arabia’s significant influence over US foreign policy in the Middle East.

She told Al Jazeera: “This was not something that I was expecting whatsoever.”

She said that there had been reports suggesting Trump might meet Syria’s new president during his Middle East trip, but there were few signs he would push for something as broad as sanctions relief.

“Expectations were very low. It wasn’t necessarily even expected that a handshake would take place,” she said. She called Trump’s announcement a “monumental” shift in US policy.

“This represents the large influence that Saudi Arabia is now exerting on the Trump administration, especially with the fact of how public it was, with how many Trump advisers and officials were pushing against engagement with the new interim government in any shape or form.”

In a speech in Riyadh, Trump urged Iran to agree to a deal curbing its nuclear enrichment programme, warning that his push for negotiations “won’t last forever”.

Trump gave an ultimatum to Iran as he said he wanted to “make a deal” with the country and make “the world a safer place”, he said.

“But if Iran’s leadership rejects this olive branch and continues to attack their neighbours, then we will have no choice but to inflict massive maximum pressure, drive Iranian oil exports to zero like I did before,” he said.

The Trump administration announced a major deal with Saudi Arabia involving a $600bn investment in the US, including a $142bn weapons sales agreement – the largest ever between the two nations.

The agreement also covers partnerships in technology, energy, and minerals, signalling a “new golden era” in US-Saudi relations and continuing decades-long economic and military cooperation.

“The deals celebrated today are historic and transformative for both countries and represent a new golden era of partnership between the United States and Saudi Arabia,” according to the fact sheet shared by the White House.

President Donald Trump will meet the leaders of Gulf states today in Riyadh and say “hello” to the Syrian president before travelling to Qatar.

In Qatar, the president is expected to visit the Amiri Diwan (office of the Emir of Qatar) and the Lusail Palace (royal residence of the Emir of Qatar), where a state dinner will be held.

On Thursday, he will travel to the United Arab Emirates.

Rep. Shri Thanedar took to the floor of the House to announce his intention to file seven articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump.

“Donald Trump has been committing crimes since Day One,” he said. “Bribery, corruption, taking power from Congress, creating an unlawful office in DOGE, violating First Amendment rights, ignoring due process, and finally refusing to abide by a unanimous Supreme Court ruling.”

Minnesota farmer Dan Glessing isn’t ready to get too upset over President Donald Trump’s trade wars.

Farm country voted heavily for Trump last November. Now Glessing and many other farmers are taking a wait-and-see attitude toward the Republican president’s disputes with China and other international markets.

China normally would buy about one row out of every four of the Minnesota soybean crop and took in nearly $13 billion worth of soybeans from the U.S. as a whole last year. More than half of U.S. soybeans are exported internationally, with roughly half of those going to China, so it’s a critical market.

Steve Karnowski and Kristin Hall report:

In its latest demand to the Supreme Court to begin swiftly deporting immigrants from the United States, Donald Trump’s administration claims a group of Venezuelan men imprisoned in Texas tried to barricade themselves inside their unit, covered surveillance cameras and threatened to take hostages.

A group of 23 men the administration accused of being Tren de Aragua gang members “have proven difficult to manage,” according to a sworn statement in court documents from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official.

Read more from Alex Woodward:

But Trump’s plan threatens to turn a global symbol of American power into an airborne collection of ethical, legal, security and counterintelligence concerns.

Trump tried to tamp down some of the opposition by saying he would donate the plane to a future presidential library after his term ends. Democrats are united in outrage over the plan.

Even some of the Republican president’s allies have expressed concerns.