President Donald Trump traveled to Saudi Arabia for the first foreign trip of his second administration. During an address in the Gulf kingdom, Trump slammed neocons and Iran, while also weighing in on Ukraine and Syria.
“It’s crucial for the wider world to know this great transformation has not come from Western interventionists, or flying people in beautiful planes giving you lectures on how to live and how to govern your own affairs,” the president said. “In the end, the so-called nation builders wrecked far more nations than they built and the interventionists were intervening in complex societies that they did not even understand themselves.”
Trump added, “No, the gleaming marvels of Riyadh and Abu Dhabi were not created by the so-called nation builders, neocons, or liberal nonprofits like those who spent trillions and trillions of dollars failing to develop Baghdad, so many other cities.”
The comparison of the Iraqi and Saudi capitals is notable, as the US spent trillions of dollars fighting a war in Iraq and attempting to rebuild the country as a Western democracy. That project is widely regarded as a failure that led to the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
The president also discussed his engagement with Iran during the address. “I want to make a deal with Iran. If I can make a deal with Iran, I’ll be very happy,” Trump added. “We’re going to make your region and the world a safer place. But if Iran’s leadership rejects this olive branch and continues to attack their neighbors, then we will have no choice but to inflict massive, maximum pressure.”
Trump has previously stated that Iran must agree to a new nuclear deal or face attacks from the US. Tehran signed a nuclear agreement with the US in 2015, but Trump withdrew from that agreement in 2018.
While discussing Syria, Trump said Washington would lift sanctions on Damascus to give them a “chance at greatness.” The US imposed sanctions on Syria as a part of Washington’s regime change war to remove President Bashar al-Assad. After he was finally driven from Syria and his government collapsed, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani seized power in Damascus.
Jolani, a veteran of the Iraq War and the founder of al-Qaeda in Syria, has been embraced by Western leaders. Jolani’s government has committed horrific violence directed at Syria’s minority sects, leading to thousands of Alawites murdered.
Additionally, the president said that a top American official would travel to Turkey on Thursday for major talks between Russia and Ukraine. “Our people are going to be going there. [Secretary of State Marco Rubio] is going to be going there. Others are going to be going, and we’ll see if we can get it done,” he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed direct talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, hosted by Turkey. Initially, Zelensky refused to attend unless Moscow agreed to a 30-day unconditional ceasefire. However, after pressure from Trump, Zelensky said he would attend the summit.
Kyle Anzalone is the opinion editor of Antiwar.com and news editor of the Libertarian Institute. He hosts The Kyle Anzalone Show and is co-host of Conflicts of Interest with Connor Freeman.
