US President Donald Trump said Thursday he was not surprised that Russian President Vladimir Putin would not attend the planned peace talks with Ukraine in Turkey. "I didn’t think it was possible for Putin to come if I’m not there," Trump told reporters during a roundtable with business leaders in Doha on the third day of his Middle East visit. Earlier this week, Trump had suggested he might attend the talks himself. On Thursday, however, he clarified that Secretary of State Marco Rubio was already on site to meet with NATO partners. Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff is also expected in Istanbul on Friday. The push for direct talks between Zelenskyy and Putin comes amid intense negotiations over a ceasefire agreement between Russia and Ukraine. Putin was the first to propose resuming direct peace talks with Ukraine in the Turkish city of Istanbul. Zelenskyy challenged the Kremlin leader to meet him there in person. However, the Kremlin said its delegation would be led by Putin’s aide Vladimir Medinsky, accompanied by three other officials. Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak insisted that Zelenskyy would only meet directly with the Russian president.
Concluding his visit to Qatar, Trump visited a US base at the heart of America’s engagement in the Middle East to speak with US troops. During his four-day visit to the Gulf states, he emphasized his rejection of US "interventionism" in the region. The Al-Udeid Air Base he visited was a key staging ground during the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and currently houses about 8,000 US troops, down from around 10,000 at the height of those conflicts. "My top priority is to end conflicts, not start them," Trump told the troops. "But I will never hesitate to wield American power if it’s necessary to defend the United States of America or our partners." The Republican president held up Gulf states like Saudi Arabia and Qatar as models for economic development in a conflict-ridden region. During his visit, he urged Qatari officials to use their influence to persuade Iran to agree to a deal to limit its nuclear program. Trump said progress had been made in the talks but warned of a "violent step" if an agreement was not reached. "Iran has sort of agreed to the terms - they’re not going to make, I call it, in a friendly way, nuclear dust," Trump said at the roundtable.
After this address, Trump traveled to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, the final stop of his Middle East tour. There, he will visit the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, the country’s largest mosque. UAE’s founder Sheikh Zayed is buried in the mosque’s main courtyard. In the evening, Trump will be hosted for a state visit by UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan at the Qasr Al Watan palace. Earlier, Trump met with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa and announced plans to ease sanctions on the war-torn country. The US has maintained over 1,000 troops in Syria for years to prevent a resurgence of the Islamic State. Trump praised al-Sharaa - who has been linked to al-Qaeda and joined insurgents fighting US troops in Iraq before entering the Syrian civil war. After their meeting in Saudi Arabia, Trump described al-Sharaa as a "young, attractive guy. Tough guy. Strong past. Very strong past. Fighter." It was a stark contrast from earlier years when al-Sharaa was imprisoned by US troops in Iraq. Until December, there was a $10 million US bounty for his capture. Trump said the opinions of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan were major factors in his decision to lift sanctions on Syria. "President Erdogan called me and asked, ‘Is there any way you could do that? Because if you don’t do that, they don’t have a chance,’" Trump said. "So I did it."
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