Center for American Progress

The latest Iran-Saudi flare-up exposes Trump’s bankrupt Middle East policy
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The latest Iran-Saudi flare-up exposes Trump’s bankrupt Middle East policy

Author Michael Fuchs argues that the United States must change its bankrupt priorities in the Middle East, including by ending support for the war in Yemen and fundamentally changing its relationship with Saudi Arabia.

The fact that the United States is up in arms over an attack with no reported casualties on an oil refinery in Saudi Arabia—while at the same time supporting Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen that has killed tens of thousands—tells us everything we need to know about how messed up US priorities in the Middle East are.

If anything, the latest round of tensions between the US, Iran and Saudi Arabia—and the debate over whether or not to retaliate militarily against Iran—illustrates the many ways US policy in the region is bankrupt, and how Trump crafts US policy based on the interests of other countries, not America.

The above excerpt was originally published in The Guardian. Click here to view the full article.

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Authors

Michael Fuchs

Senior Fellow