Victor Davis Hanson: Trump’s Ambitious Middle East Vision | Explained

May 15, 2025

The podcast dives into Trump's ambitious vision for reshaping Middle East relations. It explores his attempts to transform regional strife into profitable collaborations, including a notable investment deal with Saudi Arabia. There's a discussion on the complexity of engaging Iran, with insights on its nuclear program and ties to terrorism. The balancing act of American foreign policy, especially regarding Israel and Arab nations, is also highlighted. It's a bold approach, but is the Shia theocracy ready to play along?

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INSIGHT

Trump's Economic Diplomacy in Middle East

Donald Trump aims to turn Middle East conflict into profitable economic partnerships.
His plan includes integrating Iran and reducing hostility toward Israel.

INSIGHT

Skepticism on Iran Deal Success

Trump seeks Iran's nuclear disarmament, ending support for terrorism, and societal liberalization.
The Shia theocracy likely aims to delay and outlast Trump to gain nuclear capability.

INSIGHT

Complexities in Trump's Foreign Policy

MAGA's neo-isolationist stance clashes with Trump's Jacksonian deterrence approach.
Trump's plan connects Middle East oil production with weakening Putin's war efforts in Ukraine.

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Iran Thinks They Can Outlast Trump. Can They?

President Donald Trump embarked on his first major foreign trip to the Middle East this week, making stops in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

The goal? Replacing “strife” with “money,” bring Iran into the fold, and drop hostilities towards Israel. An ambitious agenda, maybe too ambitious, argues Victor Davis Hanson on today’s edition of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words:”
“And the subtext of all of these meetings were: We're going to replace strife with money. We're all gonna be profitable. And we have to bring the cause of all of this trouble, Iran, into the fold of the Middle East and drop the hostility to Israel. Notice, of course, that he didn't go to Israel, although he was trying to elicit support for the continuation of the Abraham Accords with Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

“This is very ambitious but it's also very dangerous. Donald Trump thinks he can cut a deal with Iran so that they would do essentially three things: They would give up their nuclear program; they would stop the subsidies to the terrorist surrogates of the Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis; and they would liberalize their society and reenter the family of nations.

I don't think that Shia theocracy feels that is their agenda.”

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