Trump tries to tackle four global crises all at once

In the hours before and after Air Force One touched down in Riyadh, President Trump's team plunged into a frenetic diplomatic blitz, aiming to defuse four of the world's most volatile crises — all at once.Why it matters: Trump came to the Middle East chasing $1 trillion in foreign investment. But under the pageantry of the Gulf summits, he's betting that a whirlwind of personalized diplomacy can succeed where decades of U.S. policy have failed.Zoom in: "As I have shown repeatedly, I am willing to end past conflicts and forge new partnerships for a better and more stable world, even if our differences may be profound," Trump said in his keynote speech at the U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum.1. Syria: Trump stunned the audience — and drew a standing ovation — by announcing that he would lift U.S. sanctions on Syria, offering the new government "a chance at greatness" after the fall of the Assad regime.He also agreed to do what no U.S. president has done for 25 years: Meet with the Syrian president.Until recently, Trump had privately referred to Ahmad al-Sharaa — who was placed on the U.S. terror list due to his ties to al-Qaeda — as "a jihadi."He now plans to "say hello" to Syria's new leader on Wednesday, and is sending Secretary of State Marco Rubio to meet with his counterpart in Turkey later this week.2. Israel-Hamas: Hours before Trump departed for Riyadh, in between negotiating sessions with Iran in Oman, his envoy Steve Witkoff secured a deal for the release of Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander, who had been in Hamas custody for 584 days.On Monday, Trump sent Witkoff and White House hostage envoy Adam Boehler to Doha to push for a broader hostage and ceasefire deal.The stakes are high. Israel has vowed to undertake an operation to occupy and flatten all of Gaza if no deal is reached before Trump's trip ends. 3. Russia-Ukraine: Trump is pushing hard for the countries to hold direct talks this week for the first time in three year, even floating the idea of joining Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Turkey later this week.Zelensky confirmed he'll travel to Istanbul for the talks. Despite being the one to propose negotiations, Putin has yet to confirm his attendance.Trump said Tuesday that he's sending Rubio, Witkoff and Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg to Istanbul to help broker a ceasefire, and suggested Russia could face massive sanctions if they won't play ball.4. Iran: Days after the conclusion of a fourth round of nuclear talks in Oman, Trump issued a public ultimatum urging Iran's leaders to accept a new nuclear deal or face a return to "massive maximum pressure.""I have never believed in having permanent enemies," Trump said in Riyadh, offering Iran "an olive branch" while stressing that the Islamic Republic can never have a nuclear weapon."This is not an offer that will last forever. The time is right now for them to choose — we don't have much time," he warned.Reality check: In Ukraine, Gaza and beyond, Trump's supreme confidence in his own dealmaking abilities hasn't yet been backed up by results.But bumps in the road might not stop him from declaring victory, as he did last week when a partial truce with the Houthis gave him cover to end an operation he'd begun to see as a costly boondoggle, the NYT reports.The big picture: Trump has branded his Middle East diplomacy as a repudiation of both neoconservative interventionism and liberal internationalism — and as proof that his transactional, "America First" approach is delivering where past U.S. presidents failed.He portrayed the Gulf region's transformation as the product of local ambition and authoritarian stability — not Western values or American-led nation-building."The gleaming marbles of Riyadh and Abu Dhabi were not created by the so-called nation builders, neocons or liberal nonprofits, like those who spent trillions and trillions of dollars failing to develop Kabul, Baghdad, so many other cities," he said."Instead, the birth of a modern Middle East has been brought by the people of the region themselves."

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Trump says he didn't address Saudi Arabia's 9/11 ties with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman

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