Khawaja Muhammad Asif said Pakistan would not join the Abraham Accords, rejecting calls from Donald Trump for more countries to participate in the agreement.
According to Al Jazeera, Asif said Islamabad would not support any agreement that conflicts with Pakistan’s “basic principles.”
“Our position is absolutely clear that this is not acceptable for us,” the Pakistani defense minister said in response to Trump’s remarks.
Trump said earlier this week that he had encouraged leaders of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt and Jordan to join the accords aimed at normalizing relations with Israel.
Pakistan has long maintained that it will not recognize Israel unless an independent Palestinian state is established under an internationally accepted settlement framework.
The Abraham Accords were first signed in 2020 under US mediation, leading to normalization agreements between Israel and several Arab states, including the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
Public support for the Palestinian cause remains strong in Pakistan, where successive governments and political parties have opposed formal diplomatic ties with Israel without progress toward Palestinian statehood.
