Trump’s nominee has called Israel America's 'one true ally' in the Middle East, and warned that even Abraham Accords signatories can't be trusted

US President Donald Trump has nominated the anti-Islam, pro-Israel Republican Wesley Hunt as the next American ambassador to Saudi Arabia.

The choice announced on Monday comes at a fraught moment for US-Gulf relations, months after the US and Israel launched their war against Iran and as the conflict continues to destabilise the region and the entire global economy.

Hunt, a staunch Trump ally, served in the US military in Iraq, flying 55 combat missions as an Apache helicopter pilot in Baghdad in 2006, before spending two deployments in Saudi Arabia as a diplomatic liaison officer.

During an appearance on Stakelbeck Tonight in January 2026, Hunt said Americans should be “extremely concerned” because “the mandate that’s been given to Islam is to basically go to other countries and infiltrate them”.

He added that Muslims would build a large population and eventually take countries over.

The New Yorker, while covering the Texas elections, said Hunt and his Republican rivals had been “targeting Muslims in their rhetoric”, while Houston Chronicle columnist Chris Tomlinson accused Hunt and other Texas Republicans of “stoking fears of Islam”.