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00:00And Trump's visit continues with stops in Qatar and the UAE.
00:05You're watching live images right now of Air Force One, which has arrived in Doha.
00:11And for more on Trump's tour, we welcome foreign affairs specialist Dr. Neil Quilliam to the program.
00:18He is also an associate fellow in the Middle East and North Africa program at the think tank Chatham House.
00:24Thank you so much, sir, for being with us today.
00:27You're welcome. Very pleased to be here.
00:29Now, Trump has emphasized that his foreign policy will be about deals, not aligning U.S. policy with U.S. values, which has been the norm in the past.
00:40This sounds like a big shift. Can you put it into perspective for us?
00:45Yeah, I mean, absolutely. I mean, this whole visit, and as you rightly said, you know, it's his first serious kind of foreign visit since becoming president, is all about dealmaking.
00:56It's about tying the economic interests, the financial, technological and defense interests of the U.S. closely with the Gulf states, particularly Saudi Arabia, UAE and Qatar.
01:08And it's about refreshing, reaffirming that relationship.
01:13It would be wrong to characterize U.S. foreign policy as always promoting and having been embedded in values.
01:21They have always been a part of that.
01:23But actually, dealmaking has been a key element of U.S. foreign policy for a long time.
01:28It's just that Trump himself really emphasizes that and is really sort of maximizing it to its full.
01:36Trump has been receiving quite the lavish welcomes, royal welcome in Saudi Arabia.
01:43And, you know, there's been some controversy in the U.S. over a plane that he is said to have been gifted by Qatar.
01:50Are we seeing more of a transactional approach that, you know, Donald Trump has been famous for as a business person now carrying over into his presidency?
02:01Absolutely. And this is all about transactionalism.
02:05And the Saudi leadership in particular has sort of expressed its delight in the transactionalism.
02:11You know, as we said just now, values are no longer sort of, you know, second or third tier priority.
02:17I mean, they're right in the backseat. This is this is all about trade.
02:21And it's also about show. It's also about circus.
02:25Donald Trump, you know, clearly loves a big welcome and he loves all the razzmatazz.
02:30And certainly Saudi Arabia enjoys that sort of showmanship as well.
02:36So you saw the stage set there for both leaders to really sort of step up and, you know,
02:41talk through the dynamism of the friendship or the bromance that they have and the relationship that they're building.
02:48But I think both are very clear that it's transactionalism at heart.
02:53So what then is the U.S. interest, the transactional interest with Syria?
02:58Why open up that relationship?
03:00So, you know, what we've seen, we've seen Iranian influence diminish over the past year, 18 months, year.
03:10And it's really on the back foot in the region.
03:12And I think this in itself, I mean, Syria does not offer the U.S. major transactional economic benefits
03:19that it would have with with, you know, with the Gulf states, for example.
03:22But it does present the U.S. with an opportunity to sort of open the doors to Gulf investment into Syria
03:29and as a way of sort of stemming the return of Iranian influence.
03:33So it's more about stopping Iran, regaining a foothold in that country.
03:39And hence, we've seen that meeting this morning between Donald Trump and Ahmed al-Sharah.
03:43You know, it's part of that messaging that Iran, you know, your time in Syria is over.
03:48You know, we are building bridges or we're going to support our Gulf allies
03:52as we move into that space and begin to invest in the economy.
03:56I want to ask you a little bit more about Iran, because Trump told Gulf leaders today
04:01that he urgently does want to make a deal with Iran to wind down its nuclear program.
04:07Can you help us understand what role Gulf leaders would play in making this happen and whether it's likely?
04:13So the Gulf leaders, I mean, there's been a lot of diplomatic activity.
04:19A lot of Gulf leaders have visited Iran or the Iranian foreign minister Arachi has visited the Gulf states
04:26just previous to Donald Trump's visit.
04:29And a couple of weeks ago, we saw the Saudi defense minister, Khaled bin Salman,
04:33you know, the crown prince's brother, visit Tehran.
04:36So there's a lot of active diplomacy taking place at the moment.
04:40And the Gulf states would very much like to, for Iran and the U.S. to, you know, to strike a deal.
04:46It's in their interests, Mohammed bin Salman in particular, because for him, you know,
04:51he wants to realize Vision 2030.
04:54In order to do that, there needs to be stability in the region.
04:57And that means, you know, Iran no longer being sort of a menace or a threat.
05:01In terms of likelihood, I think it's still unlikely that the U.S. and Iran will come to terms,
05:10will come to a deal.
05:11And if they come to a deal, I don't think it will be any better.
05:14It will probably be subpar to the, you know, the JCPOA, the nuclear deal that was reached back in,
05:20you know, mid-last decade.
05:22So I think there's a low likelihood.
05:24But clearly, you know, Donald Trump is trying to sort of push this through Steve Witkoff and,
05:30you know, his team to see if they can have a breakthrough.
05:34Dr. Neil Quilliam from the think tank Chatham House, thank you so much.
05:39Really appreciate you sharing your expertise with us here.
05:42You're very welcome.