Gulf leaders courting Donald Trump as he decided to launch a major Middle Eastern intervention. Europe boxed out and a G7 defence minister caught so off-guard that he was grounded in Dubai as the bombs fell. “The US was saying it’s no longer really interested in the Middle East – and that’s what the national security strategy was making clear as well. “In the Middle East, Trump had rebuffed Putin’s offers to mediate and said ‘you settle your own war because you’re engaged elsewhere’,” she said. The hope that Russia might have had a year ago that it could work together with the United States in the Middle East hasn’t really panned out.”

Source: The Guardian March 01, 2026 22:11 UTC