Trump has opened up Pandora’s box in the Middle East, and possibly only Iran will benefit
An editorial at The Independent says:
At an unfortunately timed event held in Miami to promote US investment in Saudi Arabia, the president of the United States told his audience that they could ask him about anything, even sex, and that the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, although “a great son” to his father, the king, “did not think he would be kissing my ass… He thought he [Trump] would be just another American president that was a loser, where the country was going downhill. But now he has to be nice to me.”
If only those typically off-colour remarks marked the limits of Donald Trump’s foolishness. Far more consequential, and worryingly indicative of delusion, were his declarations that the Iranians were “begging to make a deal” and that they’d “have to” open up the Strait of Hormuz, which he misnamed the “Strait of Trump” as his little joke. As Mr Trump was performing his trademark “weave”, Iranian missiles and drones were raining down on the Prince Sultan US airbase in Saudi Arabia, injuring 12 American service personnel and damaging a number of planes, including an E-3 Sentry, an airborne warning and control system aircraft, a key piece of equipment of which the US Air Force has a very limited fleet. Although ageing, it was worth about $300m.
Elsewhere, the war has, as was widely feared, now drawn in the separatist Houthi rebels in Yemen, long-term associates of Tehran, who’ve been launching long-range missiles into Israel. The Israel Defense Forces, for its part, has extended its operations in southern Lebanon as far as Beirut. Elsewhere, the Iranians knocked out an aluminium plant in Abu Dhabi, and a further 3,500 US marines and sailors have arrived in the Middle East, taking the total number of American troops in the region to some 53,500, with many more on the way. Once there, the natural pressure will be to use them to help win the war.
It certainly doesn’t feel like anyone involved is “begging” for peace. On the contrary, the war is expanding and escalating ever more dangerously. [Continue reading…]