Also, Trump threatens to bomb Oman, an ally.
Frustration with Trump Sets In
The Washington Post reports Frustration with Trump grows among U.S.’s Persian Gulf allies
Trump in recent weeks has repeatedly issued threats against Iran, only to withdraw them, citing progress in talks. After months of conflict, and continuing missile and drone strikes by Iran and its proxies, three officials and a former U.S. diplomat told The Washington Post, the governments of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain are now united in their aggravation with the administration. Some have begun to debate the utility of continuing to host large U.S. military installations on their territory.
“Trump started this war,” one Gulf official said, “and we are paying the price.” Like others in this article, he spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive subject. Anger with the United States, the official said, was at its highest point since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran in February.
The Gulf states continue to rely on Washington as a close security partner and major arms supplier, and Qatar and Bahrain host large U.S. bases. But the frustration is leading some states to consider new arrangements. These dynamics are unlikely in the near term to significantly reorder the region, analysts say, but some countries have begun to explore their options.
A mutual defense agreement signed by Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan last week was “a signal to the U.S.,” a senior European official said.
“There has been frustration from the get-go,” said Firas Maksad, director for the Middle East and North Africa practice at the Eurasia Group. U.S. allies in the Persian Gulf, he said, feel they were “unnecessarily entangled” in a war that Trump is now struggling to resolve.
Maksad, who has extensive contacts within Gulf leadership, said Trump’s Iran policy is often described in the region as “erratic” and “unpredictable.”
Anna Jacobs, a fellow with the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, said there has been “diminished trust” of the U.S. since the start of the war. U.S. allies think the country’s “conduct in the region is making them less safe, not more safe,” she said.
“At the beginning of the war, they were — I don’t want to say, supportive — but honestly, they were not totally against the war,” the senior European official said. The thinking in Abu Dhabi and Riyadh, he said, was that a quick, definitive victory could prove beneficial.
That began to shift in the lead-up to the first round of talks between Iran and the United States in April, the official said, when it became clear that not only would the Iranian regime not fall, but it would not reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
In the months since, Trump’s inconsistency has alarmed the Gulf, said Bader Al-Saif, an assistant professor of history at Kuwait University.
“Even before all this back and forth with Trump, there was no clear strategy,” said Al-Saif, a fellow of the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington. He cited the Memorandum of Understanding between the United States and Iran in June.
“The MOU was a joke,” he said. The agreement didn’t address the Gulf states’ top concerns, including Iran’s ballistic missile arsenal or Tehran’s support for proxy forces.
“Those terms were not terms of our liking,” Al-Saif said, “and that’s why it died out sooner than later.”
Was the MOU a Joke?
No. It was a necessary Trump capitulation, unfortunately temporary due to Trump’s incompetence.
Trump’s implementation of the MOU indeed was the joke. Trump expected Iran to honor things it never agreed to.
Trump lost the war.
The MOU provided Trump a good opportunity to cut losses.
The price of gasoline would have dropped and he was free to hype up the deal, no matter how bad.
Instead, true to self, Trump wanted more than he could get. As a result, the strait is blocked again, oil is shut off, and the price of gasoline and diesel is headed back up.
The result is now so bad that Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain are now united in their aggravation with the administration.
Iran is laughing at the incompetence of Trump.
Meanwhile in Oman
Comments on Oman
Illegal Orders
One assumes this is just the usual Trump BS. But perhaps it’s worth saying that if Trump issued an order to bomb Oman because he’s peeved at them, it would be an illegal order which should not be obeyed.
How Trump Thinks
Total Embarassment
Seriously, did you vote for this?
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Article posted with permission from Mish Shedlock
