President Donald Trump delivers a speech to the Arab Islamic American Summit, at the King Abdulaziz Conference Center. Photo / AP
President Donald Trump delivers a speech to the Arab Islamic American Summit, at the King Abdulaziz Conference Center. Photo / AP
In an incredible reversal from his hard line campaign rhetoric, Donald Trump has said that Muslims are the biggest victims of terrorism, in his first major speech to the Muslim world.
He also used Australia as an example of a nation that has suffered terror attacks in his landmark speech to leaders of more than 50 majority-Muslim nations on Sunday.
Mr Trump said that the overwhelming majority of victims of terrorist attacks are the "innocent people of the Arab, Muslim and Middle Eastern nations."
Speaking at the Arab-Islamic American Summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Mr Trump said that "95 per cent of the victims of terrorist attacks are themselves Muslims."
He said that terrorism must not only be measured by the number of dead, but the number of "vanished dreams."
It's a departure from his anti-Muslim rhetoric during his presidential campaign. In December 2015, Mr Trump told a campaign rally he was calling for a "total shutdown" of Muslims entering the United States "until our country's representatives can figure out what the hell is going on".
His words shocked many Americans, with Trump detractors noting that the US Constitution prohibits religious discrimination.
"I think Islam hates us. There is a tremendous hatred there. We have to get to the bottom of it," Mr Trump said in a March 2016 interview with CNN.
In his speech in Riyadh, Mr Trump told the Muslim leaders in attendance they must confront terrorism, warning jihadists about the impact suicide bombings will have on their immortal souls.
"If you choose the path of terror, your life will be empty, your life will be brief, and your soul will be fully condemned," he said.
Mr Trump said the US wanted peace, not war, in the Middle East and was prepared to stand alongside nations to pursue shared interests.
Iran, however, was singled out by the president for training terrorists, extremist groups and militias and fuelling "the fires of sectarian conflict and terror".
U.S. President Donald Trump, right, holds a bilateral meeting with Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa. Photo / AP
"Few nations have been spared the violent reach of terrorism," Mr Trump said.
"America has suffered repeatedly barbaric attacks from the atrocities of September 11, to the devastation of the Boston bombings, to the horrible killings in San Bernardino and Orlando.
"The nations of Europe have also endured unspeakable horror. "So too have the nations of Africa and South America, India, Russia, China and Australia have all been victims.
"But in sheer numbers the deadliest toll has been exacted on the innocent people of Arab, Muslim and Middle-Eastern nations."
Mr Trump called on Middle Eastern leaders to combat a "crisis of Islamic extremism" emanating from the region, casting the fight against terrorism as a "battle between good and evil," not a clash between the West and Islam.
Mr Trump's address on Sunday was the centrepiece of his two-day visit to Saudi Arabia, his first stop overseas as president. During a meeting of more than 50 Arab and Muslim leaders, he sought to chart a new course for America's role in the region, one aimed squarely on rooting out terrorism, with less focus on promoting human rights and democratic reforms.
"We are not here to lecture - we are not here to tell other people how to live, what to do, who to be, or how to worship," Mr Trump said, speaking in an ornate, multi-chandeliered room. "Instead, we are here to offer partnership - based on shared interests and values - to pursue a better future for us all."
Even as the president pledged to work alongside Middle Eastern nations, he put the onus for combating terrorism on the region. Bellowing into the microphone, he implored Muslim leaders to aggressively fight extremists: "Drive them out of your places of worship. Drive them out of your communities."
He also said on Sunday that Arab nations had suffered the deadliest toll of "fanatical violence" and that there was a humanitarian and security disaster that was spreading in the region.
The president has been enthusiastically embraced in Riyadh, where the ruling royal family has welcomed his tougher stance on Iran, its regional foe.
Mr Trump used his speech to attack Iran, saying it was "responsible for so much instability in the region" and saying "for decades Iran has fuelled the fires" of sectarian violence in the region.
He urged all nations to work together to "isolate" the Iranian regime.
He denounced Iranian aggression in the region, and said that the "longest- suffering victims" are the Iranian people.
He said the Iranian people have "endured hardship and despair under their leaders' reckless pursuit of conflict and terror."
He also accused it of backing the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad who he said had committed "unspeakable crimes" bolstered by Iran.
Despite his tough words, Mr Trump sounded a note of optimism, expressing hope that the three major religions of the world - Islam, Christianity and Judaism - could join together to co-operate in rooting out extremism "then peace in this world is possible."
During this his first official foreign visit, Mr Trump is also visiting Israel and the Vatican, where he will have an audience with the Pope.
Mr Trump's address swerved awkward topics like democracy and human rights. Instead, he focused on the more limited goals of peace and stability.
He promised "that America will not seek to impose our way of life on others, but to outstretch our hands in the spirit co-operation and trust."
This marked a shift from the position of former US President Barack Obama, who often raised concerns over civil liberties with America's Arab allies.
ISRAELI CABINET TOLD NOT TO SNUB TRUMP
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly instructed all his Cabinet ministers to attend the official greeting for Mr Trump, after some of them planned on skipping the event.
The move is the latest in a series of last-minute schedule changes to a presidential visit far different from the meticulously-planned operations of the past.
Mr Trump is set to go to Israel on Monday and his arrival was initially planned to include speeches and greetings with a long list of dignitaries on the tarmac of Israel's international airport.
Later, the White House asked for a brief ceremony to avoid the heat. As a result, most ministers were planning to skip the event.
