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Donald Trump's historic "bulldozer" peace deal has been hailed for showing "sheer strength" by Dr Azeem Ibrahim.Speaking to GB News, the Research Professor at the Strategic Studies Institute warned the leaders of Israel and Hamas not to make the "mistake" of trying to "violate" the agreement.FULL STORY HERE.
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from Washington, D.C
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And that is the fellow, the research fellow of the International Security Programme
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Azeem Ibrahim, who joins us from Washington, D.C. Welcome to the show, Mr. Ibrahim
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Always a pleasure to have your esteemed company. Could I get your initial reaction
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Let's go back in time to the incredible speech by Donald Trump earlier on today
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and history truly has been made in the Middle East. Yeah, Martin, without a doubt
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this is a historic achievement by President Trump. President Trump is often accused of using a lot of bluster
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but I think in this occasion it's definitely merited. I cannot have seen this happen under any other president
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He has forced this through by the sheer strength of his personality
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He's been described as a bulldozer. He forced this through by threatening Hamas' unprecedented destruction
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and at the same time by cutting off Netanyahu and negotiating directly with Hamas
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and then imposing the agreement upon Netanyahu. Both sides obviously claim that they've got a merging
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out of this victorious, but the reality is the great victory belongs to Donald Trump here
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And Azim Ibrahim, we just no doubt overheard us there saying the intense frustration, the heartbreak
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disappointment being voiced by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum in Tel Aviv
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saying already in this fragile and fresh and tenderly young peace process
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saying that they expect they want Israel to stop giving prisoners back to Palestine
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because already they're claiming that Hamas must have known they couldn have returned all these bodies today and yet they proceeded Hamas claim is that they don know where all the bodies are They lost control over a lot of the different cells that are operating within Gaza and so they need a bit more time
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But I think you're going to see a lot of that now in the coming days of violations from both sides
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that they're not living up to their agreements. But the reality is the success of this will be completely determined
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by how much the United States is engaged and how much President Trump is personally engaged in this
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He is not a president to be trifled with, unlike other presidents
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He does not operate within the same kind of system. He does what he wants
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And I think it will be a mistake from either side to kind of try to violate the agreement
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and bring ire to President Trump. And we can see live pictures on our screens now
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Azeem Ibrahim of the sun going down, the first sunset over that newly, the new peace over Gaza
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Donald Trump said earlier on in the day, an historic dawn of a new Middle East
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And yet, as the sun sets, the same dogged problems persevere, of broken promises, of words not being kept
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But Azim Ibrahim, looking forward now to what's going on in Egypt
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We're seeing various world leaders clamouring for a position Could I ask you specifically what you think about the United Kingdom's role in this
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And in particular, a question I've been asking to guests over the past weeks and months
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but certainly today, did Keir Starmer, did the United Kingdom pick the wrong side
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and play a bad hand in all of this? Well, the UK's role in this is under question
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You know, on the one hand, you have Keir Starmer claiming some sort of credit or working behind the scenes
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We do know his national security deviser Jonathan Powell was involved in some of this But the reality is Martin that the UK really does not have much influence in this at all The US is the key
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driver behind all of this, and what will happen and the outcome of all of this will be completely
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determined by what President Trump decides. The UK and Europe is just really, in reality
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just not very relevant. The countries in the region are involved. There's a lot of
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Muslim-majority countries that are involved who hopefully provide peacekeeping troops on the ground
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to keep the ceasefire intact. Many of them are very inexperienced in terms of peacekeeping missions
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but nevertheless, their contribution will be very important. Europe, the UK are just not as relevant anymore
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in this entire equation. What's next with Iran? What's been incredible again
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We haven't heard any of the bellicose language from the Ayatollahs you'd normally expect to hear
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They've been trying to rain on the parade. They've been absolutely, resolutely silent today
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Donald Trump even intimating that if you want a stable peace, phase one was the evisceration of the Iranian nuclear program
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with a formidable display of air power, those B-2 bombers. And by the way, Donald Trump just casually let slip in Tel Aviv earlier on
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that he's ordered 28 more of them. That's $117 billion worth. America has been making the most enormous military and power flex perhaps we've seen in recent history here
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Iran has realised that they have lost this equation. And, you know, if peace emerges in the Middle East, Iran will be the biggest loser and they'll be completely isolated
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And it's actually it's great that the meeting in Sharm El Sheikh is involving all the regional leaders, all Middle Eastern leaders
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and there are obviously questions about whether Netanyahu himself will attend He initially said he would on the invitation of the president and then 30 minutes later he said he will not because there a Jewish holiday But the eventuality that he does or he sends a representative
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you know, this will be also a very great historic achievement, the fact that you have Netanyahu sitting across the table
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from other Middle Eastern leaders, and hopefully that will be the foundation of lasting peace
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in the entire Middle East. And in that eventuality, Iran will be completely isolated
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I think the best thing for them to do in that situation is simply to try to get on board with this peace agreement and not sow division in the region because that simply hasn't worked out for them
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Is it possible to have a lasting peace in the Middle East so long as the Ayatollahs, the Islamic regime is in power, in place in Iran
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or is it better just to try and get the job done, to force them out of power
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to try and get Iran back to the prosperous, democratic, free nation
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it was before the Islamic uprising? Well, Iran is completely isolated now
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I think what the US should really be doing is just trying to force through a normalisation of the region
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between Israel and the rest of the Arab countries and also create a roadmap to a Palestinian state
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that is governed without Hamas, without the extremists, and with all the countries involved
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And in that eventuality, Iran will simply realise that they have lost this ongoing battle
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This is a country that has sown division and sown chaos throughout the entire region
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And so they have great limitations placed upon them if peace throughout the whole of the Middle East breaks out
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Superb. Thank you very much for joining us and thanks for patiently waiting. It's a very, very busy day
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That's a research fellow of the International Security Programme, Azim Ibrahim, joining us live from Washington, D.C
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Thank you very, very much indeed
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