Abraham Accords: US envoy Witkoff vows ‘big announcements’ with countries ‘people would’ve never contemplated’

The Trump administration is expecting to announce that several unexpected candidates will join the Abraham Accords and normalize relations with Israel, White House envoy Steve Witkoff told CNBC on Wednesday.

The statement came two days after Israel’s National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi confirmed he is in direct contact with Syria, which could potentially become one of the candidates to join the accords.

“One of the President's key objectives is that the Abraham Accords be expanded, that more countries come into it. We are working on that, my team in cooperation with the secretary of state and the entire state department,” Witkoff said.

“We think we're going to have some pretty big announcements on countries that are now coming in to the Abraham Peace Accords.”

Special Envoy @SteveWitkoff: "One of the President's key objectives is that the Abraham Accords be expanded ... We think we're going to have some pretty big announcements on countries that are now coming in to the Abraham Peace Accords." pic.twitter.com/a2vq4f99mz

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) June 25, 2025

“We’re hoping for normalization across an array of countries that maybe people would have never contemplated would come in,” he added.

“So we’re excited for that prospect, that will also be a stabilizer in the Middle East,” Witkoff said.

Many experts estimate that the successful war and ensuing humiliation of Iran, which had dominated four other nations in the region only a few years ago, has opened a unique opportunity for normalizing relations between Israel and its neighbors.

Writing in the New York Post, Hussain Abdul-Hussain, a Research Fellow at the Foundation for Freedom of Democracies, assessed: “Without Iran breathing down their necks, its neighbors in the region – Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq – can focus on their own national interests.”

“That means peace with Israel, and racing to capture a bigger share of the regional and global knowledge economy,” he wrote.

In Tel Aviv today. Including the Lebanese president Joseph Aoun. pic.twitter.com/eb6KXUI1T7

— Hanin Ghaddar (@haningdr) June 25, 2025

However, no new candidates have publicly declared themselves, leading to speculation as to who could be next to join.

Earlier this week, billboards were put up in Tel Aviv calling for a “new Middle East” through an “Abraham Alliance.”

They were created by the "Coalition for Regional Security," which describes itself as a "diverse group of public figures and opinion leaders... who joined together to ensure the security of the State of Israel through the promotion of the 'Abraham Shield Plan'."

The billboards showed a smiling Donald Trump flanked by regional leaders, including Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as leaders of countries thought to be the leading candidates for peace agreement with Israel, like Saudi Arabia and Oman.

However, the billboard also featured the presidents of Qatar, Lebanon and Syria, nations that are thought to be hostile toward Israel.

On Tuesday, Israel Hayom reported that National Security Adviser Hanegbi told a classified session of the Knesset Defense committee that Lebanon and Syria could normalize relations with Israel in the future.

The newspaper quoted Hanegbi as saying, “There is direct daily dialogue at all levels between Israel and the regime in Syria. I am leading it with political officials there.”

This is the first confirmation of direct talks between Israel and Syria, after several reports indicated there have been indirect contacts with Syria since President Ahmad al-Sharaa took power at the end of last year.

U.S. President Donald Trump advanced efforts to pull the new government into the regional U.S. alliance system when he met with al-Sharaa last month in Saudi Arabia and lifted remaining sanctions on the country.

Hanegbi also said that Israel would consider withdrawing from the buffer zone the IDF captured in Syrian territory last year as part of an agreement.

“If there is normalization, we’ll examine this,” he said, noting that “we will not withdraw from the Syrian Hermon.”