Friday Briefing

President Trump visiting the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi yesterday.Credit…Doug Mills/The New York Times

Trump’s final day in the Middle East

President Trump will wrap up his time in the Gulf today, after being feted in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, and awarded the country’s highest civilian honor.

He will return to Washington having made clear to leaders in the region that the U.S. was done with nation-building and intervening. While the president looks to peace and profit in the Gulf, his remarks left some Arab listeners worried about the potential end of U.S. pressure over human rights violations, and what that could mean for their countries.

Syria: Business owners who left the country during the war are drawing up plans to return after Trump promised to lift sanctions. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Syria’s foreign minister to discuss a road map.

Iran: Trump said that his administration was “getting close” to making a nuclear deal.

Tech: Trump inked deals to create a large campus that would transform the United Arab Emirates into an A.I. powerhouse.

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine in Ankara, Turkey, yesterday.Credit…Adem Altan/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images