Around the time Trump announced the United States’s withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear non proliferation agreement, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Bolton was pushing this idea of a kind of ‘Arab NATO’ type of alliance, to take America’s place in the Middle East. Trump has been touting the idea of withdrawing American troops from the region, but that wouldn’t suit Washington’s agenda over there, and could result in the return of some degree of stability, and that just can’t be allowed. So, enter the Bolton factor. The idea is to arrange everyone in the Middle East who has a beef against Tehran, or Shiites in general, into a single alliance in order to continue America’s work in the area. It’s not as though they’d be on their own, as America has already been funding, training, and arming terrorists in the region, so there’s no reason to fear that these nations or this alliance would have to field the ‘Iran threat’ all by themselves; Washington would be liberal with the money, the weapons, and the military training and advice, and maybe perhaps a little bit of strategic positioning here or there. This would advance a lot of agendas at the same time, and Israel would welcome the idea too, since they, too, have some issues with Iran.
Deutsche Welle reports:
The alliance would serve as a bulwark against Iran. The Shiite state has been the focus of the US president’s threats, and a travel ban has seen US visa approvals for Iranians plummet.
The aim for the alliance of the six Gulf Arab states, Egypt and Jordan is increased cooperation on missile defense, military training, counter-terrorism and developing regional economic and diplomatic ties, according to US and Arab sources quoted by Reuters.
The Middle East Strategic Alliance (MESA) would, in part, counter Iran’s expansion in the region.
“MESA will serve as a bulwark against Iranian aggression, terrorism, extremism, and will bring stability to the Middle East,” a spokesperson for the White House’s National Security Council said.
The White House confirmed it was working on the alliance concept with “our regional partners now and have been for several months.”
US President Donald Trump visited Saudi Arabia last year after Saudi officials had raised the idea of a security pact. Riyadh and the United Arab Emirates would take the leading roles in the alliance to work with the US against Iran.
Trump has maintained a line against Iran since the US administration announced in May it was pulling out of the 2015 international deal to limit Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for reduction in sanctions.
Last week, Trump issued a warning to Iran via Twitter, partly in block capitals, saying the Islamic state risked dire consequences “the likes of which few throughout history have suffered before” if it made threats against the US.
Iran has sort of become the Russia of the Middle East. Yes, Russia is currently involving itself in the Middle East right now as it is by supporting the Assad government in Syria militarily, but that’s hardly what one would call serious Middle Eastern interference or meddling. Iran is the one that’s viewed as destabilizing the region, and as being ‘aggressive’, sort of the way Russia is ‘aggressive’ towards its neighbors in Eastern Europe. Iran is billed by Washington and the Israelis, and the Saudis, as being the one supporting terrorism and being aggressive, and being responsible for pineapple flavoured pizza and pumpkin flavoured coffees and all sorts of other terrible, terrible things. That’s why Iran needs to be countered, and that’s why America’s sanctions aren’t really enough, especially since this American backed regime change plan in Iran is taking so, so long to finally get going.
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