The Donald’s latest excursion in the Middle East has been met with the usual carping and disdain from the legacy media.
I will be the first to concede he has been over the top with his praise for the locals wherever he has touched down but the big takeaway for me has been his two statements. The first was I don’t want any wars, the second was I don’t want any permanent enemies. I believe he means it, not that this will happen at any price but those are his two goals along with doing deals, mega deals if possible. He also said that the locals should work out their own solutions to their problems. The neocons’ nation building plans of the past have resulted in nation destruction in too many places.
He was greeted by the real power in Saudi Arabia MBS as he is known, in a very enthusiastic manner. This may be in no small measure accounted for by the rumours surrounding the Las Vegas shooting during DJT’s first term. This was allegedly an attempted hit on MBS by the Saudi state itself. The story goes that around 10,000 Saudis were rounded up and executed after that failed attempt. MBS was showing his gratitude for his life along with the support from the USA.
The carping from the media was immediate, the hundreds of billions of dollars in deals were started by Creepy Joe Biden, it wasn’t Trump’s work and so on. As Zelensky is finding out in Ankara on Thursday. Deals are pre negotiated, the big men only appear to sign them off and take the credit.
Then the Donald announced the lifting of sanctions on Syria, you know, the country with a former Al Qaeda terrorist as President. I assume he was read the riot act and knows what will happen if he steps out of line. Again, the Donald was fulsome in his praise.
Then on to Qatar with what is rumoured to be a trillion dollar trade deal. Bear in mind that our GDP in the UK is about $3.4 trillion in its entirety. The Donald is adding more than half our GDP to the US with a couple of meetings. He still has to visit the UAE and we can easily expect that this little jaunt of a week or so will result in a good $2 trillion added to the US economy.
I have also watched the excellent Mahyar Tousi, himself an Iranian, spelling out his interpretation of events. He has christened it “Operation ’suffocate IRGC’”, IRGC being the Republican Guard in Iran.
So far we have seen Iran’s proxy, the Houthis in Yemen, having a ceasefire. The jury is still out on this, it looks like they still fire the odd missile at Israel but have stopped attacking ships. Both sides have been hurt in this. The cost to the USA was excessive and the Houthis have had much of their infrastructure destroyed. The end result is that Iran can’t rely on their proxy, at least in the short term.
Qatar was quite close to Iran even though it hosts the biggest US base in the region. The end result of this deal and the gift of a 747-8 for the US President shows Qatar moving towards the west. Cue yet more carping from the media, how dare Trump accept gifts like this, how come he gets his own jet and so on. The plane will be owned by the Department of Defence and I can’t see them getting all the changes needed for Presidential use ready in time but the kicker will be that Boeing who have been dragging their feet with the new Air Force 1 may now get a move in. They are getting orders for hundreds of planes during this trip so maybe they will be encouraged to finish the President’s new plane.
Hezbollah has been smashed to bits and Hamas only have two senior military leaders left alive. The IDF is threatening to get everyone out of Gaza and Iran now has two fewer supporters. Syria is no longer safe for the Iranians, Qatar is moving away and Iran now looks quite isolated. True to form, the Donald has offered them the same kind of deal if they will renounce supporting terror and working on nuclear weapons. The Declaration of Independence by Balochistan, some of which is inside Iran’s borders, will also be causing a few sleepless nights in Tehran. It is hard to see this declaration as kind of spontaneous, the USA must be behind it somewhere.
All these deals and moves will have been worked on since the inauguration of DJT. The man has had a lot on his plate but he appears to be winning. For all this work, the man really does deserve the Nobel Peace Prize but he is unlikely to get it, at least not yet. Obummer got one for being black, the Donald has been actively working for peace.
Only the future will reveal whether the Iranians will see sense or not. My feeling is they won’t but I am sure some encouragement has been planned. There have been a lot of fires recently in the Islamic Republic and it is even kicking off again in Libya though I am unsure whether it is good or bad for Iran. Will we see another revolution, it might just take that much to winkle out the mullahs.
Iran must be feeling very lonely now and nobody is giving them any encouragement to continue down their chosen path.
Isn’t it amazing how the media pick on every negative aspect of any story involving this US President and miss the big picture every time. Had this been Creepy Joe visiting the Middle East the praise would have been gushing. There is still a way to go before the Deep State is rendered ineffective.
© well_chuffed 2025
