After Iran: What's Trump's next move for the region?
Lots of speculation is making the rounds, including reports of possible peace deals with unexpected countries - on these conditions.
President Trump has all sorts of ambitious ideas for remaking the region following what he considers successful American and Israeli strikes on Iran's nuclear weapons facilities.
According to a report today (Sunday) by Channel 14 reporter Tamir Morag, here are a number of possible directions for the president:
"In recent weeks, significant progress has been made in talks with the new regime in Damascus. The understanding in both Jerusalem and Washington is that Ahmad al-Sharaa is less interested in ending the war in Gaza and more focused on the removal of American sanctions on Syria. “He’s certainly not become a Zionist,” a senior diplomatic source told me, “but his interests dictate his course of action.”
"Meanwhile, the Americans are seeking to link normalization with Syria to a thaw in Israel-Turkey relations. Against this backdrop, Tom Barrack—U.S. Ambassador to Ankara and also the special envoy to Syria—remarked today that “the dispute between Washington and Turkey over the supply of F-35 aircraft may soon be resolved.”
"As for Lebanon, matters are more complicated and largely depend on progress toward disarming Hezbollah—a process that has yet to occur. However, both the government in Beirut and especially the U.S. administration have not given up on this objective.
"The next stage is expected to involve the Saudis—but only after the war in Gaza ends, due to public opinion in the kingdom. According to sources in Jerusalem, the war is expected to end in the coming months—either by military victory or a Hamas signs a surrender deal.
"If Saudi Arabia joins, the expectation is that Indonesia—the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, where a pro-Western government led by Prabowo Subianto was recently elected—will follow. The Saudis may later bring along their closest ally, Pakistan, the second-largest Muslim country."