Trump unveils his Peace Council without Europe and with the ambition to oversee the UN

WashingtonA month after its formation in the halls of the Davos Forum, the Peace Board met for the first time in Washington. Initially, Donald Trump presented the creation of the body—of which he is practically chairman for life—as a platform for managing post-war Gaza, but he quickly broadened its purpose to help "resolve" all countries in conflict. After disparaging the United Nations last September from the heart of the General Assembly, Trump is now creating his own organization to challenge its hegemony. The tycoon took great pleasure in listing the attendees, which he boasted about as yet another demonstration of his power. "In case anyone's wondering, we have a lot of rich people here today," he said.

Once again, Trump has turned a supposedly institutional event into a campaign rally. Before the meeting began, Trump posed for a group photo with the attendees. "Do you like the music?" the president asked them as he started November Rain from Guns N' Roses right after the Glory By Laura Branigan. While much of his speech was a litany of self-congratulations on his work to bring peace to the world, he once again complained about not having received the Nobel Peace Prize.

For much of his speech, Trump did nothing but pat himself on the back for his peace efforts. "I always heard that peace in the Middle East was impossible, but it turns out that wasn't the case," he stated, referring to the ceasefire in Gaza that Israel has continued to break with constant bombings in the Strip. "And we have to do something about Iran: they can't have nuclear weapons. It's very simple. You can't have peace in the Middle East if they have nuclear weapons," added the president, who has already deployed a naval fleet in the Strait of Hormuz similar to the one he used to harass Venezuela before intervening there. Most of the ships, including the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, are already in position to launch an attack against the ayatollahs' regime as early as this weekend. The Gerald Ford, another of the largest US aircraft carriers, is already en route to the region after leaving the Caribbean, where it participated in the kidnapping of Nicolás Maduro.

Despite speaking from the podium of his Peace Council, Trump couldn't resist threatening Iran again. "Now is the time for Iran to join us on a path that will culminate what we are doing. [...] They cannot continue to threaten the stability of the entire region and must come to an agreement [on the nuclear program]. If this does not happen—perhaps I can understand if it doesn't happen—if it doesn't happen, there will be serious consequences," he warned. And he added: "They will probably find out in the next 10 days."

The two central themes of the first Peace Board meeting were the disarmament of Hamas, demanded by Israel as part of the ceasefire agreement, and which country would be willing to send troops to form the International Stabilization Forces (ISF). Hamas's surrender of weapons is one of the most sensitive aspects of the 20-point plan in the Pablo agreement to end the genocide perpetrated by Israel against the Gazans. They have not yet outlined their plan to ensure that the disarmament has been carried out. It is also unclear what incentives can be offered to the group, given that Tel Aviv has continued bombing the Gaza Strip despite the truce.

The heads of state who attended the meeting were the President of Argentina, Javier Milei; the Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán; the Prime Minister of Egypt, Mostafa Madbouly; the Prime Minister of Cambodia, Hoon Monnet; and the King of Bahrain, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa. During Al Khalifa's introduction, Trump remarked that "he is so rich he can sit wherever he wants." One of the most repeated comments by the magnate during the introduction of the guests was their purchasing power. The Palestinian Authority, based in Ramallah, was not invited, but the chief commissioner of the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), Ali Shaath, was, according to reports. The Times of Israel.

Trump was flanked by Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, and his son-in-law Jared Kushner. The Witkoff-Kushner duo has become the main face of American diplomacy. They were the ones who negotiated the ceasefire in Gaza, and on Wednesday they were in Geneva talking in the morning with the Iranians about the nuclear program and in the afternoon with the Ukrainians about the war. Rubio doesn't seem to mind the fact anymore now that he's Viceroy of the Americas and leading the entire campaign in Washington's backyard. The list of countries that have sent either representatives or observers is as follows: Albania, Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Egypt, El Salvador, the European Union, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kuwait, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Netherlands, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Paraguay, Poland, Qatar, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.