Axios: The Trump administration is preparing a plan for the Middle East after the war

Axios said US President Donald Trump and his administration are preparing a strategy for the Middle East after the end of the war with Iran, according to two US officials and other sources familiar with the matter.

Although the plan is still in the early stages of preparation, it aims to guide America’s approach to the Middle East after the end of the war with Iran and during the final two years of Trump’s term.

Two major events are important to the planning process: the Israeli elections, scheduled for October 27, and the US midterm congressional elections in November.

U.S. officials say initial work on the strategy is taking place at two levels: at the top political level within the Trump administration and at the executive level among various government agencies.

In recent weeks, the president has held two meetings with his senior advisers to discuss the plan and present ideas about it, according to the sources, and Trump has said in private conversations that he was working on “something bigger” in the Middle East after the war with Iran, but the White House declined to comment.

According to sources, three main elements were presented as potential components of the strategy:

• Establishing a regional arrangement among US allies to contain Iran, with the United States as the guarantor of this agreement.
• Make a coordinated effort to end the regional consequences of the October 7, 2023 attacks by securing the next phase of Trump’s Gaza plan, securing a security agreement between Israel and Syria, and implementing an agreement between Israel and Lebanon.
• Expanding the Abraham Accords and reaching an agreement to normalize relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel.

The Trump administration hopes that any new Israeli government formed after the Oct. 27 election will be willing and able to cooperate in implementing a post-war strategy.

But some US officials stress that Trump will push ahead with the plan regardless of the outcome of the Israeli election, and even if the election results in a political stalemate.

According to the site’s source, the idea is to tie together a wide range of issues in the region, that is, to determine how the regional order should be created after the war. However, it remains unclear whether all US allies in the region will support and participate in this approach.