Trump in Saudi Arabia: Middle East Must Embrace “Commerce, Not Chaos” and Export “Technology, Not Terror” — Celebrates Edan Alexander’s Release
At a high-level global investment forum in Riyadh, former President Donald Trump delivered a sweeping address calling for a future Middle East driven by innovation and cooperation—not extremism and violence.
Speaking before a packed audience that included Tesla and X Corp CEO Elon Musk, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Oracle chairman Larry Ellison, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, and many other global tech and finance leaders, Trump laid out a bold vision for the region’s future.
Before our eyes, a new generation of leaders is transcending the ancient conflicts and tired divisions of the past,” Trump said.
“They’re forging a future where the Middle East is defined by commerce, not chaos; where it exports technology, not terror; and where people of different nations, religions, and creeds are building cities together—not bombing each other out of existence.”
The event spotlighted Saudi Arabia’s ambitious economic transformation, but Trump’s remarks went beyond business, diving into the humanitarian and security challenges still gripping the region.
“This weekend we successfully negotiated the release of the last American held by Hamas—Edan Alexander, who just came out a few hours ago,” Trump announced, referring to the 20-year-old American-Israeli soldier kidnapped on October 7 and held for over 580 days. “We brought back a lot of hostages held by Hamas.”
Trump strongly condemned the October 7 massacre: “All civilized people must condemn the October 7 atrocities against Israel. Which would never have happened—probably not if you had a different president, but definitely not with me as president.”
Addressing the future of Gaza, he added: “The people of Gaza deserve a much better future. But that will not and cannot occur as long as their leaders choose to kidnap, torture, and target innocent men, women, and children for political ends.”
As tech titans and financial powerhouses listened closely, Trump cast the future of the region as one that must pivot away from terror and toward technology, trade, and long-term peace—with American leadership at the helm.
=============