Visiting Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo continued to push the Trump Administration’s intensely anti-Iran narrative. This looks to be the focus of his speeches for the rest of his visits across Gulf Arab states.
Echoing the narrative from his big speech in Cairo, in which he set out a
US agenda of continued military intervention across the Middle East,
Pompeo is placing a broad focus on hostility toward Iran. This message
tends to be met very favorably by the governments across the GCC.
But beyond just generally disliking Iran and making a non-specific
anti-Iran posture a goal, any sort of practical policy efforts are going
to be a harder sell. In particular, Pompeo is expected to continue
President Trump’s goal of selling the region on an “Arab NATO” that
would be hostile toward Iran.
How easily that will be sold as a formal body remains to be seen. This
alliance is envisioned as Saudi-led, but generally doing what the US
wants. With the US Congress souring of unconditional military backing of
the Saudis, getting them to commit to this sort of military alliance
may be trickier.
Pompeo Brings Anti-Iran Message to Gulf Arab States
Secretary of State expected to push US goal of 'Arab NATO'
Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.
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