عربستان، ایران و تنگه هرمز: نقد نقش میانجی‌ها

Other things to unpack here. Um, number one is the mediators.

It is well known in the Middle East region by our intelligence services, by all the players, that the Pakistanis and the Qataris are compromised because they favor Iran at the expense of the United States.

This is historical. This is not new, and yet they're the mediators.

So their influence here, I think, has played a part in misleading the United States in terms of Iran's real intentions.

The second thing are our allies and partners, led by Saudi Arabia.

Let us point out and remind the audience here that when we were going to open the Strait of Hormuz forcibly, Saudi denied us the use of our air base and denied us the use of their airspace, and also told the president and discouraged him from doing it because he-- they thought the operation would fail.

Of course, they knew nothing about the details of that operation, nor are they qualified to make that kind of an assumption.

And what the Saudis are doing here is for the fourth time, they have influenced the president.

One is on the Strait of Hormuz. Two other times, it's well known that he was close to going back to major combat operations, and they talked him, as well as other allies in the region, down from doing that, and let's try to make a deal.

That is what is going on here. So what's going on with the Saudis?

The, the fact of the matter is the Saudis are not willing to sacrifice to rid the Middle East region of Iran's aggression.

That is the absolute fact that we're seeing playing out here.

What do I mean by sacrifice? Casualties and the damage to some of their oil reserves.

That's the re-- that's the reality that's taking place here.

They're willing for us to make that sacrifice, for sure.

They're willing for Israel to make that sacrifice, for sure.

That's despite the fact that they've been under a nuclear and security umbrella since World War II, despite the fact that the United States led a coalition to stop Saddam Hussein from taking Saudi oil fields after they took the Kuwaiti oil fields, and we liberated them.

Despite the fact that after the, the Saudi government killed Khashoggi, the, uh, Trump administration certainly wire-brushed them for that, but still maintain a relationship with this kingdom, and the-- I think this is shameful that they lack the spine to stand up for their people and for the region here

and support the president on what has taken place.

And the, the reality is, going forward here, it's gonna come down to Iran and the United States.

Is Iran really ready to make a deal of substance here and carry it through?

My gut feel here is no. They are not gonna give up the Strait of Hormuz.

They think it's a strategic asset. They'll try to waffle this any way that they can so that they maintain some level of control over it, and it will not be satisfactory to the Trump administration, much less the nuclear enterprise as well,

which I think is down the road and as difficult as the Strait of Hormuz happening.

The president is not gonna make a bad deal here, and also, I think he learned a few things as a result of that memorandum of understanding which was poorly crafted and led to certainly a, a lot of misunderstandings.