Trump to visit us troops in Qatar during the Middle East tour

Doha, Qatar (AP) – President Donald Trump On Thursday he did not say that the Russian president Vladimir Putin Will be a no-show for being Expected peace talks With Ukraine in Turkey this week.

Trump had urged Putin and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meet in Istanbul. He wiped Putin's obvious decision not to take part in the expected talks.

“I didn't think it was possible to go Putin when I wasn't there,” said Trump in an exchange with reporters when he took part in a business roundtable with executives in Doha on the third day of his visit to the Middle East.

Trump early this week Potentially hovered. However, the US President found on Thursday that Foreign Minister Marco Rubio was already meeting in the country with NATO colleagues. Trump's special representative Steve Witkoff also plans to be the expected talks in Russia-Ukraine on Friday in Istanbul.

The advance for direct conversations between Zelenskyy and Putin comes in the middle of A negotiations The aim of completing a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.

Putin was the first too Suggest to restart direct peace talks Thursday with Ukraine in the Turkish city that spans Asia and Europe. Zelenskyy challenged the Kremlin leader meet personally in Turkey.

But the Kremlin said his delegation in the talks is managed by Putin's adjutant Vladimir Medinsky and comprises three more civil servants. The Ukrainian presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak said Zelenskyy would only sit down with the Russian leader.

Later on Thursday, Trump will visit a US installation in Qatar in the center of American participation in the Middle East. He used his four -day visit to Gulf States to reject the “intervention” of the past in the region.

Trump will address troops at Qatar Al-Odeid air baseThat was a big staging floor during the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The president has stopped golf nations such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar as models for economic development in a region plagued by conflicts. During his visit, he asked the Qatarian officials to use their influence to cause Iran to dismantle with his administration in order to contain his nuclear program.

According to Trump, progress has been made in the talks, but warned that a “violent step” could come if a deal is not achieved.

“Iran agreed to the conditions, so to speak: You won't do it, I call it kindly, nuclear dust,” said Trump at Business Roundtable. “We won't do any nuclear dust in Iran.”

After his speech to US troops, he will travel to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates to get the last stage of his MIDOST tour. He will visit the Grand Mosque Sheikh Zayed, the country's largest mosque. The founder of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Zayed, is buried in the main courtyard of the mosque.

Trump is also held in the evening by the President of the United Arab Emirates Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan In the Qasr al Watan Palace.

At the beginning of this week, Trump met with the Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa and announced plans to alleviate the sanctions against the country torn by the war. The United States has used more than 1,000 soldiers in Syria for years to suppress a return of the Islamic state group.

Trump praised Al-Sharaa-der Al-Qaida and joined the insurgents who fought against the US armed forces in Iraq before he met the Syrian Civil War-after the two met in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday. The President called Al-Sharaa a “young, attractive guy. Hart.

It was a strong contrast to earlier years when Al-Sharaa was locked up by US troops in Iraq. By December there was a bounty of 10 million US dollars for his arrest.

Trump said that the opinions of Saudi Arabic Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in his decision to increase sanctions against Syria.

“President Erdogan called me and said”. Is there a way to do that? Because if you don't, you have no chance, “said Trump.” So I did it. “

The Qatarian Basis Trump visits houses around 8,000 US troops, of around 10,000 at the heak of Iraq and Afghanistan.

The gas-rich golfand has spent around $ 8 billion for the development of the base for over two decades, which was built on a flat desert section about 30 kilometers southwest of Katar, Doha. The basis was once considered so sensitive that American military officers would only say that it was “in Southwest Asia” somewhere.

Trump said he and the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al ThaniWould also see a demonstration of American air ability, since the US manager tries to increase defense exports to the region.

“You actually buy a lot of this equipment,” said Trump on Wednesday when he and Sheikh Tamim signed a number of bilateral and business agreements between the two countries. “And I think we'll see some of it tomorrow – we won't call it a air fair, but it will be a kind of air fair.

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Madhani reported from Dubai. Associated Press Writer Gabe Levin in Dubai contributed to this report.