US President Donald Trump on Thursday hosted the annual White House iftar dinner and thanked American Muslims for their support in the November 2024 elections.
“The Muslim community was there for us in November – and while I'm president, I'm going to be there for you,” he said during a brief speech ahead of the dinner. “I think you know that.”
In the 2024 US presidential election, Mr Trump saw an increase in support from Muslim and Arab American voters, particularly in key swing states like Michigan and Arizona.
Massad Boulos, the Lebanese American father-in-law of Mr Trump's daughter Tiffany, who is now serving as a senior Middle East adviser to the President, met repeatedly with Arab American and Muslim leaders in the run-up to the election.
Both promised Arab American and Muslim voters that Mr Trump was a candidate for peace who would act swiftly to end the wars in the Middle East and beyond. These aims have not yet been achieved.
The iftar dinner was attended by ambassadors and chiefs of mission from the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt, Kuwait, Qatar, Pakistan, Malaysia, Bahrain, Iraq and Oman, among others.
-
US President Donald Trump during the White House Iftar dinner in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, March 27, 2025. President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order targeting WilmerHale, marking the latest expansion of the president’s campaign against law firms tied to his political enemies or investigations into his actions. Photographer: Chris Kleponis / CNP / Bloomberg -
Mr Trump arrives for the event, which was held in the final days of Ramadan. EPA -
Mr Trump addresses guests at the iftar in the State Dining Room of the White House. AFP -
Mr Trump used the event to thank Muslims in America for their support in the November election, when he was voted back into office. AFP -
Sheikha Al-Zain Al-Sabah, Kuwait's ambassador to the US, was among the dignitaries at the White House iftar. EPA -
Princess Reema bint Bandar, Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the US, at the iftar in Washington. AFP
Mr Trump said his “administration was engaged in relentless diplomacy to forge a lasting peace in the Middle East, building on the historic Abraham Accords, which everybody said would be impossible”.
“Now we're going to start filling them out, because, as you know, [former President Joe] Biden did nothing to fill them out,” he added.
The Abraham Accords were brokered by the US during Mr Trump's first term in office, establishing relations between Israel and several Arab nations. In 2020, the UAE and Bahrain signed the agreement with Israel, followed by Morocco at the end of that year and Sudan in early 2021.
Mr Trump also expressed his wish for peace in the region. The dinner came as Israel continues to bombard Gaza, after a January ceasefire that the US President had claimed credit for was shattered on March 18.
The President's “Gaza Riviera” proposal – suggesting that the Palestinian enclave be developed into a beach resort, with its population displaced to Egypt and Jordan – has been widely criticised in the region and beyond.
