The Trump administration's Middle East strategy apparently encompasses a broader game plan to counter, neutralize and realign growing U.S. and global nuclear war threats posed by a China-Russia-Iran-North Korea alliance.
Accomplishing this policy inevitably requires engaging a collaborative coalition of regional Gulf State nations that includes countries and leaders previously regarded as adversarial to Western security interests — Syria and Qatar in particular — who are being given a new opportunity to help produce positive outcomes subject to responsible behavior.
All share vital far-reaching leverage to influence positive outcomes through control of oil and gas prices and export revenues which are funding Russia's Ukraine invasion stocked with North Korea weaponry and Iran terrorist proxies attacking Israel and U.S. bases.
Curbs on Russian and Iranian oil and gas — in turn — make China more reliant on Middle East supplies necessary to fuel rapidly expanding military buildups in the South China Sea region.
Israel, our closest Middle East ally, is a key party in this strategic master plan as well.
And so far, it appears to be working.
President Trump's first foreign trip to Saudi Arabia during his second term was welcoming and eventful, beginning with an F-15 escort of Air Force One to the King Khalid International Airport where he was greeted by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the country's de facto leader on a lavender-colored carpet as drums boomed and horns blared.
From there, the two walked together to a private ceremony lined by waving U.S. and Saudi flags to welcome Trump and many of his senior officials including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
During that first day, Prince bin Salman signed a $600 billion Saudi investment deal with the U.S. and the White House agreeing to sell Saudi Arabia an arms defense package worth approximately $142 billion.
At Prince bin Salman's urging, President Trump agreed to meet with Syria's new Islamist leader Ahmed al-Sharaa and repeal sanctions on his country.
Whereas Sharaa is a former jihadist, he has since sworn off his ties to radicalism, promised to run an inclusive government, and signaled willingness to let U.S. oil and gas companies work in his country.
Sharaa also represents White House hope that his cooperation can prevent Iran and Russia from dominating Syria as a counterbalance to Turkey's Hamas-led influence in feeding bloody conflict with Israel.
Although Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposed lifting the Syrian sanctions, President Trump reportedly urged Sharaa to join the Abraham Accords normalizing relations with Israel.
Netanyahu has meanwhile demanded that southern Syria be "demilitarized," and has said that Syrian leadership's forces won't be allowed in the region.
During his four-day Middle East trip Trump also met with Doha Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani in Doha, inking a $1.4 trillion U.S. investment over a decade plus a prospective $400 million government-to-government gift to replace the aging presidential Air Force One Boeing aircraft.
Qatar deals include a $96 billion Qatar Airways commitment to acquire up to 210 American-made Boeing 787 Dreamliner and 777X aircraft powered by GE Aerospace engines, the largest such purchase for the companies ever.
Although broadly accused of funding terrorism, and criticized for U.S. foreign influence peddling, Qatar has also been at the forefront of peace and hostage negotiations which led to the March release of American George Glezmann who had been imprisoned by the Taliban in Afghanistan for more than two years, and more recently also to that of the last living American Hamas hostage, Edan Alexander.
Qatar is a significant U.S. trade partner, one that provided a positive $2 billion trade balance surplus last year: $3.8 billion in U.S. exports vs. $1.8 billion in Qatari imports.
Meanwhile, President Trump has issued an ultimatum to Tehran that Iran will never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon.
"One way or another, make your move," Trump said, adding the country would face "massive maximum pressure" if it doesn't curb its nuclear work soon. "The offer will not last forever."
Asher Freedman, a member of the Trump negotiation team headed by the president's son-in-law Jared Kushner which brokered the Abraham Accords that normalized relations between Israel and four nations, Morocco, Bahrain, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates, predicts that joint concerns regarding Iran's nuclear ambitions will prompt other Middle East nations to join.
Freedman told the Daily Signal, "There's a lot of interest. There's a lot of talk about Saudi Arabia," he said, noting, "that of course would be the jewel in the crown, peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia."
Other nations that have previously been reported to have considered signing onto the agreement include Indonesia, Mauritania, the Maldives and the Comoros, Freedman said.
Add to this that Trump intervention has likely helped to calm potential threats of major conflict between bordering nuclear-armed India and Pakistan following an April 22 Pakistani terrorist attack that killed 26 civilians in Pahalgam, a Kashmir resort.
India retaliated by launching missile attacks on terrorist redoubts in Pakistan on May 7 before a U.S.-brokered cease-fire brought an end to the fighting on May 10.
So yes, all this Trump anti-war game plan diplomacy certainly looks like winning progress.
And if it succeeds, the entire world benefits.
Larry Bell is an endowed professor of space architecture at the University of Houston where he founded the Sasakawa International Center for Space Architecture and the graduate space architecture program. His latest of 12 books is "Architectures Beyond Boxes and Boundaries: My Life By Design" (2022). Read Larry Bell's Reports — More Here.