Some Arab states are happy to see President Obama go given the importance of the Iran threat to them:
Gulf Arab states are quietly applauding the arrival in the White House of a hawkish leader opposed to their adversary Iran, even if they suspect Donald Trump's short temper and abrasive Tweets may at times heighten tensions in the combustible Middle East.
The article says that a possible move of America's embassy to Jerusalem could put off Arab states eager for help against Iran.
This issue, after all, was not even mentioned in this assessment of Saudi hopes and concerns for the Trump administration.
We shall see how much those Arab states want help against Iran more than they want to support Palestinians who seem happy to take help from Iran.
As an aside, Moslem anger at the Crusades is meaningless to me given that the Crusades tried to liberate Christian lands that had been conquered by Islamic armies. This is not an early version of Western colonialism as so many liberals with little sense of history claim. If it is colonialism, it was successful Islamic conquest, colonialism, and ethnic cleansing. So deny the attempted guilt trip about that,
Anyway, we shall see what kind of deal there is when the Israeli prime minister comes to America. Will Israel offer enough to Gulf Arab states to get their silence on an embassy move?
Maybe Trump can build a hotel in Jersualem and then rent space to the American embassy! (I'm joking, of course.)
UPDATE: The Saudis are on board pressuring Iran through the flawed deal that unwisely front-loaded benefits to Iran:
President Donald Trump and Saudi King Salman want to "rigorously" enforce the Iran nuclear deal, the White House said Sunday, despite the US leader's long opposition to the agreement.
The pair, in a phone conversation, also spoke of the need to address Iran's "destabilizing regional activities," fight the spread of "radical Islamic terrorism" and establish safe zones in war-ravaged Syria and Yemen, the White House statement read.
I'm willing to see if Trump can make Iran howl through the deal.
If this doesn't work, the deal should be canceled.
UPDATE: One of the reasons I'm willing to see if we can enforce the deal to death is that I believe the Obama administration worked to set up a deal where it would be easy not to notice problems if they didn't want to see them.
