Trump says concerns about Iran driving Israel, Arab states closer

Is President Trump putting on weight?

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that shared concern about Iran 

Given Iran's military involvement in Iraq, Syria and Yemen, given Iran's support for Hamas, given Iran's connections with Russia, I can see why Trump'ss concerned. (Trump'ss probably not concerned about the Russian connections, however. Unless he thinks he might get cut out of any money making deals by his oligarch pals there.)

However, it makes no sense to me for him to add more fuel to the problems in MENA by choosing sides with one faction and alienating others. He seems to have simplified MENA's ethnic complexities to the binary world he sees.

Is he pushing for more conflicts, for more opportunities for those in his administration and some of his biggest backers in the big war industries to get even richer making and selling weapons?

Is he in Israel to give them more weapons paid for by US taxpayers?

I see this trip as putting MENA at even greater risk than it's ever been.

Iran is a problem, but so are a lot of other countries in the Middle East. And the American president choosing sides isn't really going to fly. My guess is Saudi Arabia will use his visit as an example of how he supports regime change in Iran (although Trump didn't say that). That in turn will seem to say that the US is siding with the Sunnis. Which isn't good. The radicals on both side are equally horrible.

Netanyahu is the same as Saudi Arabia. His idea of dealing with Iran is mostly about turning the country into a wasteland and calling it a day. Anything less than that will be described as the US not supporting Israel. Let's see how Trump reacts to Netanyuhu's calls for more action on Iran (just assuming that was his position in the meetings). He's also going to quickly learn that Netanyahu has no problem at all stabbing a US president in the back if they don't do what Israel wants regarding Iran.

Trump also missed an opportunity to embrace the recent elections in Iran where the moderate (relatively speaking), who spoke out publicly against the Mullahs, won convincingly. The hardliners in Iran are most likely taking Trump's speeches to say that the US wants to take out Iran regardless of who they elect. It plays right into their hands. Especially the anti-Shiite angle.

Something the GOP doesn't want to understand, which might have been passed to Trump, is that containing Iran is meaningless without the support of Russia and China. That's a problem. Trump will continue to praise Russia even if they assistant Iran in getting around anything the US sets up. And China isn't going to make a move until Iran is a threat to them, or until it's in their best interests to do so. I don't see what leverage Trump has here.

And finally, we all know that Trump and the people around Trump describe Islam is disparaging terms. Shall we start with Bannon? Or how about Trump's Muslim ban or his fake news about tens of thousands of Muslims cheering on 9/11. Saudi Arabia will put up with it to get at Iran, but not a lot of other countries will. Trump's desire to engage in racist policy will undercut pretty much anything he says about the Middle East. Warm welcome in Riyadh, but probably lots of eye rolling everywhere else. His choice, his fault.

iran has oil and the Persian Gulf. US doesn't care about Iran or its people. Just the oil will do.

The Palestinians should build a wall to keep out illegal Israeli settlers and get Donald Trump to pay for it out of the $3.8 billion annual welfare check that the US taxpayer sends to Israel.

@CrazyJoe

Excellent plan! : )

I wonder what Trump said to the Western Wall...

According to a funny meme I saw he was asking the Wall who paid for it.

In his comments to Netanyahu, Trump mentioned a growing Iranian influence in conflicts in Syria, Yemen and Iraq,

Yeah, how dare Iran get in the way of the US's, Israel's, and Saudi's attempts to take over these countries...

DT is thinking "open sesame"

(DT)I was told that there is a ATM around here!