The United States’ Foreign Policy in the Middle East

Posted: August 26th, 2021

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The United States’ Foreign Policy in the Middle East

The most defining moment of any presidency is usually experienced in times of a major crisis. For example, President Obama’s two terms were most tested in the way he led the most powerful country on earth weather through the 2008 Global Financial Meltdown. Turning our focus on the current presidency, the recent US – Iran Tension has arguably been the most defining moment for Donald Trump. In his January 14^th, 2020 WSJ article: Trump Gets No Soleimani Bump, William Galston argues that the recent US – Iran war exposed president Trump Administration’s vulnerability with regards to its Iran policy. Having started by America striking Iran’s military bases in Iraq in retaliation for Iran’s alleged killing of an American contractor, the war culminated in the killing of Soleimani – Iran’s military leader. Maybe as a tragic culmination to the war, Iran a few days later accidentally downed a Ukrainian passenger plane, killing all the 176 people on board as it launched missiles to American bases across its borders in Iraq.

            The recent war in Iran has resulted in sharp divisions emerging within President Trump’s Republicans party, with some legislators publicly disagreeing with his Middle East Policy. This is an indication that, as a leader, President Trump did not consult with his fellow party members before okaying the attacks on Iraq. As a mark of Iraq’s retaliation, its parliament unanimously voted to expel American troops from their country. Before de-escalation, there was a lot of tension in the general populace within the US alongside America’s embassies and military bases overseas, due to the anticipation of airstrikes on these facilities by the Iranian government. Naturally, these tensions in the populace dealt a major to America’s tourism sector as no tourist was willing to travel into the country.

The response of the international community was also interesting in the sense that not even America’s allies in the NATO Bloc took its side. In fact, in the entire world, only Israel backed Trump’s recent move. It is because of these interesting observations by William Galston that I chose his article. The article dissects intelligently into the weaknesses of President Trump’s Iran Policy and highlights the consequences of having in place such a weak policy. As an aspiring leader, it is not lost upon me that any country’s foreign policy is the gateway through which that country interacts with and gets the support of or faces reprisal from other countries. Therefore, by studying such foreign policy vulnerabilities, I hope to be a better leader come my time to play a bigger leadership role in my country.