“Frustration with Washington is growing in the Persian Gulf region, where U.S. allies are increasingly concerned that President Donald Trump is unable to manage the diplomacy necessary to secure peace with Iran, Arab and Western officials say,” the Washington Post reported in an article on Aug. 15. After months of conflict, and continuing missile and drone strikes by Iran and its proxies, three officials and a former U.S. diplomat told The Washington Post that the governments of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, and Bahrain are now united in their frustration with the Trump administration. Some have also begun to debate the value of continuing to host large U.S. military installations on their territory.
“Trump started this war,” one unnamed Gulf official told the Post, “and we are paying the price.” Anger with the United States, the official said, was at its highest point since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran in February.
The Gulf states continue to rely on Washington as a close security partner and major arms supplier, and Qatar and Bahrain host large U.S. bases. But the frustration is leading some states to consider new arrangements, the Post report continues. These dynamics are unlikely in the near term to significantly reorder the region, analysts say, but some countries have begun to explore their options. The mutual defense agreement signed by Saudi Arabia, Turkey. and Pakistan earlier this month was “a signal to the U.S.,” a senior European official said.
According to the Post, a White House official rejected the assessment, saying Trump “has extraordinary relationships with all of our Gulf partners” and that Washington has stayed in regular contact throughout.
Trump, himself, appears to be trying to get out in front of this narrative, and publicly endorsed the pact over the weekend. In a Truth Social post he called it a “BIG, BOLD, AND IMPORTANT FIRST STEP,” writing that he was very happy to see the three countries had finally signed it. “It shows that the Middle East is coming together and how Countries will finally be able to defend themselves in a more meaningful way,” he wrote.
