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U.S. President Donald Trump launched his Board of Peace at a signing ceremony in Davos on Thursday, praising Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa's efforts and warning Hamas it will face its "end" if it does not disarm under the Gaza ceasefire deal.
"Syria is making a lot of progress, tremendous progress. President Ahmad al-Sharaa is working very, very hard and I think he's going to put it all together," Trump said.
The signing ceremony featured representatives from fewer than 20 countries, with none of the United States' traditional Western European allies present. The nations represented skewed heavily toward the Middle East and South America, with leaders from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Argentina and Paraguay among those attending.
"We are truly honored by your presence today," Trump said, referring to them as in "most cases very popular leaders, in some cases not so popular."
Several leaders publicly declined to attend, including those from the U.K., Italy and Germany. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz gave a speech in Davos earlier Thursday.
"Every country, just about every country, wants to be a part of it. And we just sent out the letters a couple of days ago, and these are just the countries that are here. They happen to be in Davos," Trump said.
Trump warned that Hamas must disarm under the Gaza ceasefire deal or face destruction.
"They have to give up their weapons, and if they don't do that, it's going to be the end of them," Trump said, adding that the group "were born with rifles in their hands."
Trump said the ceasefire his administration helped broker between Hamas and Israel had been maintained and "delivered record levels of humanitarian aid."
"You don't hear those stories anymore with people starving," Trump said. "We're going to be very successful in Gaza. Once the board is formed, we can do pretty much whatever we want to do."
Trump thanked former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair, who will serve on the Board of Peace's Executive Board tasked with operationalizing the board's vision in Gaza.
"Thank you, Tony, for being here. We appreciate it," Trump said.
Trump repeated his claim of settling eight wars since returning to office, saying, "We have peace in the Middle East" and adding he believes "another one's coming pretty soon"—referring to the Ukraine war.
"That is the one that I thought was going to be an easy one; it's turned out to be probably the most difficult," he said.
Trump said Iran was "two months away from having a nuclear weapon" before a U.S. bombing campaign last June, referring to Operation Midnight Hammer, which he said "obliterated" the country's nuclear capacity.
"Can't let that happen, and Iran does want to talk, and we'll talk," Trump added.
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Trump hailed the U.S military's capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro earlier this month.
"Earlier this month, thanks to the unrivalled skill, power and might of the U.S. military, we have the most powerful military in the world by far, we captured the outlaw dictator Nicolas Maduro and the people of Venezuela," Trump said.
"We're opening up the country to our giant oil companies and it's going very well. We've already taken out 50 million barrels of oil," he added.
Trump gave the United Nations a backhanded compliment, saying it has "tremendous potential" but hasn't used it.
"There are some great people at the U.N.," Trump said, but added he didn't speak to any of them when working on the "eight wars I ended."
The board would work "coupled with the United Nations" to create a "safer future for the world, unfolding before your eyes" and help "end decades of suffering," Trump said.
"Today, the world is richer, safer and much more peaceful than it was just one year ago. We put out all those fires a lot of people didn't know about, including me," Trump concluded.
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