Trump Middle East Saudi Shiite Focus Shift Israel Regime Change ‘New Right’

 

Trump Middle East Saudi Shiite Focus Shift Israel Regime Change ‘New Right’

 

As US President Trump’s Middle East tour shifted to Shiite Saudi Arabia, he showed an end to the existing ‘Axis of Evil’ strategy of ‘China, North Korea, Iran’ and ‘New Right’ through regime change in Israel.

After shaking hands with Syrian Islamist leader Ahmed al-Shara, who was a former militant leader, and the summit, President Trump praised him to reporters, saying, “He has potential. He is a true leader.” The US first agreed to many arms, business, and technology deals with the militant government, which had a bounty of $10 million, through the president’s official diplomacy.

 

Trump's four-day tour of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates was "more than just a diplomatic spectacle characterized by lucrative investments," 

Reuters reported on the 18th, adding that "his remarks after meeting with Shara in Riyadh sealed the emergence of a new Sunni-led Middle East order that would obscure Iran's shattered 'axis of resistance' and leave Israel on the sidelines, three regional sources and two Western sources said."

Trump once called President Ahmed al-Shara, who had ties to al-Qaeda, a "tough guy, a very strong past," and said he would end the many sanctions imposed on Syria's previous government "to give them a chance to be great." 

The New York Times reported on the 18th that Trump was effectively ignoring the views of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying, "The Israeli government calls al-Shara a 'jihadist,' and the Israeli military has bombed Syria hundreds of times since the rebels led by al-Shara ousted President Bashar al-Assad from power in December."

 

The Trump administration has shifted its strategy from an anti-Iran (anti-Sunni) strategy to a strategy system led by Shiites in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE, in an effort to avoid Israel and induce a change of government in the next presidential election, thereby signaling the end of the existing 'axis of evil' strategy imposed on 'China-Iran-North Korea.' In Saudi Arabia, Trump has struck a record $142 billion arms deal with Riyadh, handing Saudi control of Lockheed Martin’s F-35 fighter jets and shifting air supremacy in the Middle East from Israel to Saudi Arabia.

At the same time, Trump has recalibrated his relationship with the Saudi royal family, formalizing US-led civilian nuclear investment talks in Saudi Arabia and offering a new Saudi deal as a check on Israel’s nuclear dominance.

 

Netanyahu’s absolute supremacy in America came from his leadership in the fight against Iran, but now the new regional order is being shaped by the vast capital of Riyadh, Doha, and Abu Dhabi, and Saudi Arabia has secured a new strategic order by tying the eventual new Syrian leader to Trump in an arms deal.

These Gulf monarchies have gifted expensive Boeings and invested in expanding the Trump family’s business funds and high-yield guarantees in order to gain access to sophisticated weapons that can protect them from attacks by Iran and its puppets, and to secure advanced US chips and artificial intelligence technology.

These Sunni rich countries, while guaranteeing the diplomatic agenda and Trump's pursuit of wealth, made Trump's surprise announcement of 'lifting sanctions on Syria' during his Middle East tour, creating the biggest issue in US foreign policy.

Reuters reported that "this is another important change, and it was made at the request of Saudi Arabia and against the opposition of Israel," and that "until last December, when Syria's Shahra ousted Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, the US administration officially announced a '$10 million reward' for his capture and maintained the policy."

 

The three Gulf countries, which became the new axis, supported the ceasefire with the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen in Sudan just before President Trump's Middle East tour in order to modify the existing 'axis of resistance' strategy that the US had given to Iran, thereby leading to the 'end of expensive US military operations' in the Red Sea adjacent to Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

The Trump administration’s “ceasefire” with the Houthis came shortly after the start of nuclear talks with Iran, but the actual announcement came just two days after a Houthi missile struck Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport, Reuters said, emphasizing the “link to Israel.”

 

“As frustration grows in Washington over Israel’s failure to reach a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, Trump’s trip was a mockery of Netanyahu, the first foreign leader to visit Washington since taking office in January and a close U.S. ally,” diplomatic sources told Reuters. “The message was clear: In Trump’s less ideological and more results-oriented vision of Middle East diplomacy, Netanyahu could no longer count on unconditional support from the United States for his right-wing agenda.”

“This administration is very frustrated with Netanyahu, and that frustration is showing,” David Schenker, a former U.S. assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs under Republican President George W. Bush, told Reuters. “They are very, very transactional, and Netanyahu is not giving them anything right now.”

Trump administration officials have privately expressed frustration with Netanyahu’s refusal to follow Washington’s position on Gaza and Iran, according to people familiar with the matter, and six regional and Western sources told Reuters that friction between the U.S. and Israel had been building even before Trump’s trip to the region.

In the weeks since, Trump’s announcement of a ceasefire with the Houthis in Yemen, his rapprochement with Syria’s new Islamist leadership and a Gulf tour that bypassed Israel have underscored how strained the traditionally close relationship has become, the sources told the AP. In the days of tensions between President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, the number of deaths in Gaza has skyrocketed due to indiscriminate attacks, exceeding 52,900 people in total, and extreme food blockades have led to famine and starvation, and Netanyahu announced on the 18th that he would expand the ground operation and lift the minimum food supply blockade, right after President Trump announced an “arms deal” with the Syrian leader.

 

Citing sources, Reuters said, “Since President Trump took office several months ago, Netanyahu has continued to ignore calls for a ceasefire, escalate his offensive, and after 19 months of conflict, he has not proposed an end or post-war plan.” “The tensions began when Netanyahu visited Washington for the second time in April, and when Netanyahu visited Washington to seek Trump’s support for a military strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, he was shocked to learn that Trump was choosing diplomacy,” and pointed to the “disruption of nuclear negotiations with Iran” as the decisive cause. 

Netanyahu, who has steadfastly defended his hard-line stance against Tehran, was caught off guard just hours before the talks began, and in the weeks since, Trump’s declaration of a ceasefire with Yemen’s Houthi rebels, his rapprochement with Syria’s new Islamist leadership and his Gulf tour, which bypassed Israel, have underscored how strained the traditionally close relationship has become, the sources told Reuters. 

“The new Middle East triumvirate has found a willing partner in a U.S. president whose foreign policy can sometimes blur with his family’s financial interests, and now Saudi Arabia has come in with other tools: its economy, its money and its investments,” the sources said. 

Reuters estimated Trump’s personal gifts during his Middle East trip at $700 billion, adding, “The White House estimates that the trip secured more than $2 trillion in investment commitments for the U.S. economy, including major orders for Boeing aircraft, deals to purchase U.S. defense equipment, and data and technology contracts, but the total value of publicly announced deals, as compiled by Reuters, is closer to $700 billion.”

 

“Trump’s trip to the Middle East dashed any hopes that he would solidify his image as a pacifist and announce a deal to end the bitterly divisive war,” Reuters said. “As Trump wrapped up his visit, Israel launched a new offensive in Gaza on the 16th, and hundreds of Palestinians have been killed in Israeli airstrikes in just a few days.” 

Netanyahu blocked the expansion of the Abraham Accords, a key priority in the Middle East during Trump’s first term, to include Saudi Arabia in diplomatic relations between Israel and Arab countries, and Saudi Arabia’s declaration that it would not normalize relations with Israel until the Gaza war ended and the path to a Palestinian state was opened, and Netanyahu’s refusal to do so was pointed out as the cause of this major change in the Middle East.

 

“Netanyahu has no strategy, no plan for Gaza,” former Deputy Secretary of State Schenker told Reuters. “He is blocking the way.”

 

“Israel is increasingly seen as a spoiler, not only to the United States but also to the international community, as it tries to shape the region in a different direction after the fall of Assad and Hezbollah and perhaps end the Gaza war,” Guzansky, a former coordinator for Iran-Gulf issues at the Israel National Security Council, told Reuters. Netanyahu’s right-wing government remains silent on Trump’s Middle East visit.

 

Major Israeli media outlets, including Times of Israel, have reported concerns that “Israel’s position as its most important ally has collapsed.”

Israeli opposition politicians have criticized the prime minister for neglecting Israel while old allies are being reorganized.

Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, a leading contender for the next prime minister, has strongly criticized the Netanyahu government as a “gangster,” sending a wake-up call to many in Israel’s political and security establishment.

 

“The Middle East is undergoing a tectonic shift before our eyes, our enemies are growing stronger, and Netanyahu… and his gang are paralyzed and passive as if they don’t exist,” the former prime minister and defense minister wrote on social media platform X on the 17th.