Pakistan has rejected US President Donald Trump's call to join the Abraham Accords, with Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif saying Islamabad will not normalise relations with Israel under any circumstances.
The rebuff followed Trump's Truth Social post Monday in which he said he had asked Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, and Jordan to join the Accords en masse, tying the push to ongoing US-Iran peace negotiations.
Trump framed the request as near-mandatory, saying if Iran too signed a deal with him, "it would be an Honor to have them also be part of this unparalleled World Coalition."
ALSO READ: Trump Links Abraham Accords To Iran Deal; Makes Israel Ties 'Mandatory' For Saudi, Qatar, Pakistan
Asif was unsparing in his response. "Personally, I don't think we should join any such accord that clashes with our fundamental ideologies," he told Samaa TV. Questioning the basis of any engagement with Israel, he added: "How will you sit down with those people whose word cannot be trusted even for a single day?"
His conclusion left little room for ambiguity: "We have a very clear stance that this is not acceptable to us."
A Pakistani source familiar with the matter told CNBC that the Iran deal and Abraham Accords membership were "not interlinked and cannot be made so," and that "Pakistan is under no compulsion to adhere to any such demand."
The Abraham Accords, originally brokered by Trump in 2020, normalised relations between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan, marking the first such normalisation agreements since Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994. During his second term, Trump has sought to dramatically expand the framework.
None of the other nations called upon have publicly responded, and a positive reaction was considered unlikely given deep public mistrust of Israel across these Muslim-majority countries.
Pakistan, which does not recognise Israel as a state and bars its passport holders from travelling there, remains among the most firmly opposed.
Essential Business Intelligence, Continuous LIVE TV, Sharp Market Insights, Practical Personal Finance Advice and Latest Stories — On NDTV Profit.
