Trump Welcomed To UAE With Fighter Jets and Ceremonial Hair Dances On Last Leg of Gulf Tour

President Donald Trump arrived in the United Arab Emirates with his third fighter jet escort on Thursday, kicking off the final leg of his high-stakes Middle East tour.

Upon touching down in the country’s capital, Abu Dhabi, Trump was greeted by UAE leader Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and other dignitaries.

Trump is the second serving American president to visit the UAE, after former President George W. Bush in 2008.

Trump was welcomed with a ceremony that included dignitaries, music, an honor guard, and Emirati women doing a traditional dance with their hair.

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So far on the visit, Trump met with Nahyan and toured the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. He is expected to announce economic trade deals with the oil-rich country.

In March, the UAE committed to investing $1.4 trillion in American energy, manufacturing, and technology over the next decade.

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“This new framework will substantially increase the UAE’s existing investments in the U.S. economy in AI infrastructure, semiconductors, energy, and American manufacturing,” the White House said in a statement announcing the framework.

Trump had a strong relationship with the UAE in his first term, most evident in the success of the Abraham Accords, which normalized the Gulf country’s relations with Israel.

The visit comes after two jam-packed days in Saudi Arabia where Trump secured massive trade and defense sales deals and a $142 billion defense sales deal with Saudi Arabia, which the White House says is the largest agreement in history.

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Trump on Wednesday made a defense agreement with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, despite his previous 2017 statements in which he accused Qatar of backing terrorism.

“The nation of Qatar, unfortunately, has historically been a funder of terrorism at a very high level,” Trump said at the time.

Qatar signed a letter of intent to purchase $2 billion worth of MQ-9B Reaper drones and $1 billion in counter-drone technology, becoming the first international customer for Raytheon’s Fixed Site–Low, Slow, Small Unmanned Aerial System Integrated Defeat System (FS-LIDS), designed to neutralize small unmanned aircraft.

One of the biggest moments of his trip came on Wednesday in Saudi Arabia when Trump met with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, after announcing he would end sanctions on Syria the night before.

“In Syria, which has seen so much misery and death, there is a new government that will hopefully succeed in stabilizing the country and keeping peace,” Trump said during his speech when he announced the end of the sanctions.

HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT TRUMP’S MIDDLE EAST TRIP

Following meeting with Sharaa, Trump called him a “young, attractive guy. Tough guy. Strong past. Very strong past. Fighter.”

The meeting between Trump and Shaara was the first meeting between an American president and a Syrian leader in 25 years.

On Thursday, Sharaa, during a television address, called Trump’s move a “courageous decision which alleviates the suffering of the people, contributes to their rebirth and lays the foundations for stability in the region,” reported Al Jazeera.

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Trump’s team suffered a setback on Thursday, following Russian President Vladimir Putin skipping direct negotiations with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Turkey.

When Zelensky landed in Turkey for what he hoped would be face-to-face negotiations with Putin, he was informed that only Putin’s underlings would be present, who he called “stand-in props.”

In response, Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said, “A clown and a loser is talking about respected people.”

Instead, a low-level Russian delegation will meet with a Ukrainian delegation headed by its Defense Minister, reported BBC.