US President Donald Trump told reporters on Sunday that he shares Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s scepticism on Washington’s Middle East peace plan and that only time will tell whether the “deal of the century” will be implemented.
“We'll see what happens. We're doing our best to help the Middle East”, Trump said, adding that Pompeo “may be right” in his raw assessment of the blueprint.
At the same time, the US president remained upbeat on the matter, saying that “if we can get a Mideast peace plan that would be good”.
READ MORE: Pompeo Admits Trump’s Middle East 'Deal of the Century' Could Fail — Reports
“And when Mike says that, I understand when he says that, because most people think it can’t be done. I think it probably can. But as I say often, we’ll see what happens”, Trump added.
His comments came after Pompeo was cited by the Washington Post as saying that the Middle East peace plan was “very detailed” and he believes he has seen “all the details of what we are going to roll out."
Even so, Pompeo admitted that part of the plan “one might argue, unexecutable” and that it might not “gain traction”.
“It may be rejected. Could be in the end, folks will say, ‘It’s not particularly original, it doesn’t particularly work for me,’ that is, ‘it’s got two good things and nine bad things, I’m out,’” Pompeo reportedly said, voicing hope that the plan will not be dismissed.
READ MORE: Trump's Middle East Peace Plan Implies No Sovereignty for Palestinians — Report
The US plans to roll out the Middle East peace plan, which aims to solve the longstanding dispute between Israel and the Palestinians, and earlier touted by Trump as the “deal of the century,” at an economic forum in Bahrain on 25 June.
The Palestinian Authority has already pledged to boycott the forum after the Trump administration endorsed an array of Israel’s moves.
This drew condemnation from Palestinians and sparked speculation that the plan would be biased toward Israel; Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in turn, denounced the peace package as the “slap of the century” and promised to reject it.
READ MORE: Israel to Deal With Trump's Plan on Middle East Peace Relying on Own Interests
Washington began developing the Middle East peace blueprint two years ago, in efforts that have been led by Trump's son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner and Special Representative for International Negotiations Jason Greenblatt. The economic portion of the plan will reportedly focus on pumping investments into the Palestinian territories.
