Failure of the U.S. to secure the sea lanes in the Persian Gulf has drawn the ire of Gulf States.
Recent ship seizures by Iran have prompted sharp criticism from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), among others.
American allies in the region are wondering where the U.S. protection is.
This from libertynation.com.
Iran’s gulf piracy operations reflect disrespect for the U.S. presence and a growing pervasive lack of confidence in the Obiden Regime’s overall Middle East policy.
In short, The Regime—by the design of Barack Hussein Obama—is losing the Middle East. The U.S. has been ineffective in preventing the third-rate Iranian navy from seizing petroleum tankers in international waters, and the UAE has made its disappointment in the Navy’s performance public.
Benoit Faucon and Dion Nissenbaum reported for The Wall Street Journal:
The Emirati complaints, expressed to US officials in Abu Dhabi and Washington in recent weeks, mark another moment of disappointment among America’s Middle East partners with security in the Persian Gulf, where more than a third of the world’s seaborne crude oil transits.
Gulf states depend on unfettered access to the Persian Gulf and Straits of Hormuz. However, they are discouraged by the Obiden Regime for failing to prevent attacks by Iran and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy.
The WSJ reported:
Most recently, US officials said the Emiratis were frustrated by the lack of an American response to Iran’s seizure of tankers on April 27 and May 3.
This translates to a belief that the U.S. does not have a solid commitment to the region.
Read: Obama is sowing discord via his favoritism to Iran.
The UAE government made its irritation known when the Emiratis pulled out of the 38-nation Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) two months ago. The UAE Foreign Ministry, in a public announcement, explained that the country withdrew from the CMF because it was not persuaded of the effectiveness of the security forces.
Vivian Nereim wrote for The New York Times:
Political analysts say the Emirati statement could be intended as a message to the United States that the country is displeased with the level of American protection for its allies in the Persian Gulf against threats from Iran and must look out for its own interests.
According to the U.S. Central Command’s 5th Fleet spokesman, Commander Timothy Hawkins:
The Emirates are still members and ‘partners’ in the Maritime Force.
Commander Hawkins told Agence France Presse recently:
The UAE is putting its participation on hold…The CMF still includes 38 partner nations, of which the UAE is one.
The fact is that what traditionally has been one of America’s strongest allies in the region has demonstrably lost confidence in the security the U.S. provides in the Gulf. For many Middle East countries watching the geopolitical movement recently, the takeaway is that the U.S. is no longer a forceful presence.
An opinion piece by Dr. Marwa El-Shinawy in MENAFN, an Amman, Jordon-based Middle East financial and world news service, may very well provide a compelling cautionary message for The Regime.
Drawing from what she sees as increasingly strained relations with Saudi Arabia and the UAE and the intervention of China to broker an agreement between the governments of Saudi Arabia and Iran, excluding the U.S., El-Shinawy concluded:
These recent transformations also confirm that the U.S. withdrawal from the region has given space to both Russia and China combined to fill the political vacuum in the region and seek to create a consensual geostrategic environment to bring about economic partnerships and constructive political balances that help strengthen their presence as active poles in the new global system.
And understanding how Middle Eastern governments could come to the same point of view is not a difficult step to make.
The Obiden Regime’s treatment of Middle East partners and friends has, at best, been lukewarm and sometimes confrontational.
Joe-Joe Biden’s encounter with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud over commitments for Saudi Arabian oil was not his finest hour and played out poorly for the U.S.
The failure of America to respond rapidly to the January 17, 2022, deadly drone strike on a refinery at an Abu Dhabi industrial park was viewed as a lack of support from The Regime. More confusing for the Emiratis was that the terrorist group of Iran-backed Houthi rebels that launched the air attack is no longer designated by the Obiden State Department as terrorists.
To add to the perception America is not committed to the Middle East, Jared Szuba reported for Al-Monitor:
The US has withdrawn air defense systems and reduced its Navy rotations Gulf region in recent years. Pentagon officials say the withdrawals are necessary as the US prepares to deter future confrontations with China and Russia.
Szuba warned:
The result has been that the reduced footprint has led to a crisis of faith among partners and allies in the Gulf region.
The optimism left by the Trump administration, having secured the historic Abraham Accords normalizing relationships between the UAE, Bahrain, and Morocco with Israel, has faded with the Obiden Regime hijinks.
An Obama-led Regime at the helm will not do what is necessary for World peace—mind the store in the Middle East.
Final thoughts: With the United States no longer the world’s law enforcer, China and Russia will fill the vacuum created. Worse still, the world’s troublemakers—Iran for example—have become clear to have their way. And with Obama pulling the strings of The Regime, Radical Islam will proliferate.
