'I think he's going to join': Trump says Saudi Arabia will normalise with Israel without two-state solution

In a wide-ranging interview with the 60 Minutes news programme on CBS on Sunday, US President Donald Trump appeared convinced that Saudi Arabia will normalise relations with Israel without the kingdom's precondition of a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

His remarks come ahead of the Saudi crown prince's visit to Washington on 18 November. It will be Mohammed bin Salman's first visit to the White House since his 2018 visit during Trump's first term at the White House.

"He has said they won't join the Abraham Accords without a two-state solution. Do you believe that?" CBS correspondent Norah O'Donnell asked.

"No, I think he's going to join," Trump responded. "I think we will have a solution."

"I don't know if it's going to be two-state, that's going to be up to Israel -  and other people, and me - but look, the main thing is, you could have never had any kind of a deal if you had a nuclear Iran," he added, seemingly deflecting to the ceasefire deal his administration helped broker in Gaza.

"You essentially had a nuclear Iran, and I blasted the hell out of them, and... they have no nuclear capability right now," Trump continued, referring to his unprecedented June air strikes on Iran's three major nuclear facilities. 

Tehran rejects the claims that its nuclear capacity was "obliterated", as Trump has frequently described it. 

"Let's talk about Israel," O'Donnell said. "You got the remaining Israeli hostages out of Gaza. You arranged a ceasefire, however fragile that may be."

"It's not fragile. It's very solid," Trump pushed back. 

Hamas

Israel has already violated the 10 October ceasefire more than 250 times, Hamas said, including several rounds of air strikes that killed dozens of children. 

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Israel still has to defend itself. 

"I mean, you hear about Hamas, but they can be taken out immediately if they don't behave," Trump said on CBS.

"How do you get Hamas to disarm?" O'Donnell asked about one of the key sticking points in the agreement.

"If I want them to disarm, they'll disarm very quickly," Trump said. "They'll be eliminated. They know that."

O'Donnell asked if the president could push Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept a two-state solution. 

It's worth noting that, despite the policy being on Washington's books since 1993, the Trump administration has not publicly stated that it is abiding by it. 

"I had to push him a little bit, one way or the other. I think I did a great job in pushing him," Trump said of getting Netanyahu to apologise to Qatar for the air strike on Doha, as well as his acceptance of a ceasefire in Gaza.

"He's a very talented guy. He's a guy that has never been pushed before," Trump revealed. "I didn't like certain things that he did". 

That said, the president said he would be "involved... to help him out a little bit" with his corruption trial in Israel - a highly unusual move that constitutes foreign interference in the justice system of a major ally. 

"I think it's very unfair," Trump said. 

"He's under trial for some things, and I don't think they treat him very well". 

Mamdani

With a mayoral election watched around the world in Trump's birthplace of New York City on Tuesday, O'Donnell asked about the man poised to become the first Muslim mayor of the largest city in the country: 34-year-old Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani.

She was unable to pronounce his first or last name correctly. 

"He's a communist, not a socialist. Communist. He's far worse than a socialist," Trump insisted.

O'Donnell did not push back. 

"Some people have compared him to a left wing version of you. Charismatic, breaking the old rules. What do you think about that?"

"Well, I think I'm a much better-looking person than him, right?" Trump countered. 

If Mamdani does win, the president said he may withhold what could sometimes be life-saving federal funding that all states receive. 

"If you have a communist running New York, all you're doing is wasting the money you're sending there," Trump said.

"I'm not a fan of [Mamdani's opponent Andrew] Cuomo one way or the other, but if it's going to be between a bad Democrat and a communist, I'm going to pick the bad Democrat."

New York's mayoral election takes place on Tuesday, 4 November. Mamdani currently leads the polls with Cuomo trailing in second and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa in third.