The land and skies over the Persian Gulf have been internationalized: British and French warplanes overhead; Pakistani, Turkish, and Italian troops on the ground; Ukrainian interceptor drones and South Korean air-defense batteries at the ready.

As the United States reportedly warns its regional allies it might escalate its war against Iran shortly after midterm elections -- for the Gulf Arab states, a "nightmare scenario" dragging them back into conflict -- those allies are turning to an alternative for their defense: middle powers. A growing network of such powers from the Middle East, Europe, and Asia is coming to the Persian Gulf to bolster regional defenses and intensify diplomacy with Tehran.

The development coincides with a longer-term U.S. military withdrawal from the Gulf, damage to U.S. bases from Iranian missiles, and diminished interceptor stockpiles that have left U.S. allies questioning America's reliability. ...

@#1 ...

Whoa, wait, WTF?!?!?!?

... The development coincides with a longer-term U.S. military withdrawal from the Gulf ...

So, Iran seems to have won in driving the US out of the region?

Is that a correct assessment?

@#3 ... He also said he would have ended the Vietnam war in a week. ...

Pres Trump has also said that he won his war against Iran back in March 2026. (note that I seem to feel a need to put a year on that date)

Pres Trump says a lot of things. Mostly MAGA seems to be the only folk who belive what he says.

Indeed, he has recently said to the attendees at his rally, "I Could Say The Stupidest Things And You'd Clap"

@#5 ... It's almost like he's playing himself in a SNL skit. ...

I dunno.

SNL skits of late seem to have a lot more thought behind them than Pres Trump's utterings.

And, fwiw, back in the day, I remember going to see this performance group in an off-off-Broadway performance in NYC with my friends while I was in college. It was a couple three months before the first SNL was broadcast. The performers called themselves, Not Ready For Prime Time Players.

Was it a test of the Not Ready For Prime Time Players who became the original SNL cast?

Wish I knew.

@#6

OK, all that aside...

Are Pres Trump's tactics now even pushing away our Middle East allies?

The remaining allies of Pres Trump seem to be dictators and/or autocrats.

Why might that be?