Pompeo hails pact between Israel, Gulf Arab states

US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo hailed the agreement signed Tuesday between Israel two Gulf Arab states, UAE and Bahrain.

Speaking during a virtual conversation with the Atlantic Council, Pompeo said the Trump administration "flipped what the previous administration was doing on its head," and focused on the threat from Iran, not the Israeli-Palesstinian conflict, to start achiving Mideast peace.

"The primary destabilizing force in the Middle East was not the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. It was rather the threat posed by the extraterritorial ambitions of the clerical regime in Iran," Pompeo said.

In a White House ceremony aimed at showcasing presidential statesmanship, Trump will host more than 700 guests Tuesday on the South Lawn to witness the sealing of the agreements between Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

Trump and his allies hope the occasion will burnish Trump's credentials as a peacemaker at the height of his reelection campaign.

"What we'll see today at the White House is a set of countries who came to the same conclusion that we did what was in their best sovereign national interests to recognize the state of Israel, to normalize relations, that the real relationships with them and build out security relationships around that," Pompeo said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Emirati and Bahraini foreign ministers are to ink the deals before the crowd, which will include representatives of supporting nations from the Washington-based diplomatic corps but few other dignitaries from overseas. Some congressional Democrats who have offered muted praise have been invited to attend.

In addition to the individual bilateral agreements signed by Israel, the UAE and Bahrain, all three will sign a trilateral document, officials said. The agreements are dubbed the "Abraham Accords" after the patriarch of the world's three major monotheistic religions. Trump is expected to sign as a witness.

"Not only have these nations chosen to recognize Israel, but when the Gulf states all got together and the Palestinians demanded that there be a statement denouncing what took place, that did not occur," Pompeo said.