President Donald Trump's sudden change of policy on reopening the Strait of Hormuz has angered Gulf allies and changed how they view the United States amid the Iran war, an expert said on Thursday.
Ravi Agrawal, editor in chief of Foreign Policy Magazine, told MS NOW that Trump's decision followed Saudi Arabia's move to suspend the U.S. military's ability to use its bases and airspaces for the ongoing military operation. The key Gulf ally's decision was a response to "Project Freedom," which Trump announced on his Truth Social platform over the weekend — without discussion among the regional allies.
The backlash has had real ramifications, Agrawal argued.
"It is embarrassing," Agrawal said. "I mean, not only this, but you could go further back and say it's embarrassing that the United States went into this war without the backing of any of these countries in the region. None of the Gulf countries wanted this war to take place, even though they are the ones that have been in literally in the line of fire right from day one, and not only in the line of fire, because they just happen to be there, but specifically because they are home to U.S. bases. And that, in a sense, puts a target on their backs. And so Iran is attacking countries for their allegiance and alliances with the United States. And I think if you step back and look at the broader repercussions that are emerging from this, the countries in the region trust the United States less the fractures within the Gulf countries that Inzamam [Rashid] was referring to are growing."
Agrawal suggested more fractures could be brewing as a result.
"The UAE and Saudi Arabia are increasingly not seeing eye to eye," Agrawal added. "The UAE recently pulled out of OPEC, the oil exporters' cartel. And then when you broaden that out further, Pakistan, of course, in South Asia, India, other countries that are deeply affected by this crisis, Katie, we're now looking at a world in which each of these countries are looking to strike side deals with each other, trying to work around a system and rules that they see as no longer really working with no real broker that they trust, with no broader system umbrella like the United Nations that actually functions. This is the disorder that many of us have been predicting for quite a while, and a lot of it stems from a United States that is increasingly acting like a rogue superpower."
