North Carolina’s Budd and Iowa’s Ernst hope to include the legislation in this year’s annual defense spending measure
Sens. Ted Budd (R., N.C.) and Joni Ernst (R., Iowa) introduced legislation on Thursday that would significantly boost defense cooperation between signatories of the historic Abraham Accords agreement as the Islamic Republic lashes out at its Arab neighbors, according to a copy of the bill shared with the Washington Free Beacon.
The Abraham Accords Defense Cooperation Act, which the two Senate Armed Services Committee members hope to include in this year’s National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), instructs the Pentagon to begin implementing defense and intelligence-sharing plans with the countries that have normalized relations with Israel since the treaty was first signed in 2020. Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates joined the pact with Israel in September 2020, while Morocco signed on in December of that year and Sudan followed the next month. Kazakhstan announced in November that it would become the fifth Muslim-majority country to enter the agreement.
Along with the United States and Israel, the nations will enhance “regional planning and cooperation among the military forces” with a specific focus on “counter-unmanned aircraft system capabilities,” “ground-based air defenses,” and “special operations forces development,” according to the bill. The defense initiative would authorize funding for the nations to work together on an assortment of “long-term regional projects” that include intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance missions, and other tactical operations meant to deter “aggression by Iran and its proxies in the Middle East.”
The measure would also enable joint air and naval exercises between Abraham Accords signatories. Should the text make its way into this year’s NDAA, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth will have 60 days to provide the Senate Armed Services Committee with a plan for meeting the objectives and a budget request for doing so.
The bill comes at a pivotal juncture for Arab nations in the Middle East, many of which have faced a barrage of attacks from Iran during the ongoing U.S.-Israeli military campaign against the Islamic Republic. The defense provisions included in the legislation specifically seek to combat the types of weaponry Tehran has used against Gulf states in recent weeks. The Iranian regime has fired more than 2,000 drones and missiles at the United Arab Emirates since February 28, and more than 80 percent of those strikes have targeted civilian infrastructure.
“Many of our Arab allies in the Middle East, such as Bahrain and the UAE, signatories of the Abraham Accords, remain in the crosshairs of Iranian missiles and drones,” Budd said. “By bolstering defense cooperation among Abraham Accords countries, we can strengthen regional partnerships and fortify deterrence against Iranian aggression.”
Both Budd and Ernst say increased defense coordination with Abraham Accords members could “potentially encourage additional Arab nations to join the Accords” as they seek protection from the Islamic Republic, according to a summary of the bill that the senators’ offices have circulated on Capitol Hill.
One potential addition is Saudi Arabia, which has expressed interest in diplomatic normalization with Israel in the past and has forcefully supported the U.S.-Israeli campaign against the Iranian regime.
A spokesperson for Budd told the Free Beacon the senator is confident that the immediate danger the Islamic Republic poses to U.S. interests and partners in the Middle East means the legislation will have broad bipartisan support.
“Sen. Budd plans to make a push to include this legislation in the NDAA as a provision in the base text, or as an amendment,” the spokesperson said. “Given the significant threat to U.S. military personnel and to our partners in the region, Sen. Budd is confident that his Democratic colleagues will agree that this partnership would benefit America, Israel, and the other countries part of the Abraham Accords.”
Both parties have backed the Abraham Accords since President Donald Trump unveiled the agreement during his first term, with Congress creating a special envoy for the accords in 2023. The House of Representatives reestablished its bipartisan Abraham Accords Caucus in February 2025, providing a natural base of support for the Budd-Ernst measure, while Ernst herself co-chairs the Senate’s version of the caucus.
“As co-chair of the bipartisan Abraham Accords Caucus, I have been proud to build upon the success of the Accords through my DEFEND Act and now through the Abraham Accords Defense Cooperation act to unite our partners against Iran-backed terror,” Ernst said. “When our partners are prepared to deter the Iranian regime and its proxies, our world and homeland are safer.”
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